Individuals with autism often display rote and repetitive responding across behavioral topographies. One area that is often affected is the individual’s verbal repertoire. In an attempt to build and expand verbal repertoires, script and script fading procedures have often been implemented to teach individuals new and varied verbal behavior. Script training and fading procedures have also been used specifically to remediate deficits in an individual’s mand repertoire. Researchers have examined the effects of script training and fading procedures on the variability within an individual’s mand repertoire. This line of research is of great importance since a lack of variability in mands can limit an individual’s access to desired and/or needed items as well as social interactions. In the present study, we implemented simultaneous script training and fading procedures to increase the variability of mands used by three preschool-aged children (one male and two females) diagnosed with autism. We implemented these procedures in an attempt to promote mand variability using antecedent only procedures and to teach variability explicitly in our script training and fading preparation. It was also our goal to address some of the limitations that arose in the previously conducted mand variability studies, namely, the suppression of the default mand frame. At the conclusion of the study, and following procedural modifications, all three participants demonstrated an increase in variability of mand frames. This increase was observed following the inclusion of extinction procedures and following low levels of variability while using antecedent-only procedures. Participants in this study demonstrated an average of one mand frame following antecedent-only procedures and this increased to an average of three mand frames following the inclusion of extinction procedures. The combination of the antecedent procedures and extinction further increased variability across participants. The need for the extinction condition led to many limitations in this study including the limitations analyzed in the simultaneous script training and fading procedures.

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Acquired apraxia of speech (AOS) is a type of motor speech disorder (MSD) characterized by deficits in the motor planning or programming of speech movements (Duffy, 2005). Because AOS is often a chronic condition that may severely impair intelligibility and, thus, significantly reduce quality of life (Ballard et al., 2015), it is necessary to develop efficient and effective treatment protocols. A previous study by Youmans, Youmans, and Hancock (2011), demonstrated the efficacy of script training in the treatment of AOS. Furthermore, extensive research in general motor learning has shown that feedback is one of the most important components of motor learning (Schmidt & Lee, 2011). Research devoted specifically to speech motor learning has generally favored this view, though few studies have distinguished between the two major types of feedback: feedback providing knowledge of results (KR) and feedback providing knowledge of performance (KP). The present study is the first to examine feedback type in treatment for AOS, and the first to examine the utility of script training specifically for a participant with AOS, but no aphasia. The findings from this single-case experimental design study reveal that, compared to KR, KP resulted in greater improvements in speaking rate. KR and KP feedback resulted in comparable gains for accuracy, but condition differences were difficult to interpret due to unexpected rising baselines for the KR scripts. Both KR and KP scripts, but especially the KP scripts, outperformed the untreated control scripts, providing further support for the efficacy of script training for AOS. / Communication Sciences

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of spoken self-disclosure scripts on nonaphasic listeners’ perceptions of people with aphasia (PWA). Self-disclosure is a tool that PWA can utilize in the event that they want a conversation partner to know of their communication disorder. However, limited research has been conducted on the effects of aphasia self-disclosure or whether it affects perceptions of PWA from neurotypical communication partners. If self-disclosure is determined to make a positive impact on a communicative interaction, it could be grounds for encouraging PWA who are interested to develop a self-disclosure script or use an aphasia identification card. Methods: 239 middle-aged adults participated in this study, which was a remote survey conducted on Qualtrics via Prolific. Aphasia self-disclosure scripts from two speakers (one female and one male), as well as neutral scripts from the same two speakers, were used as stimuli. After hearing either the self-disclosure or the neutral script, participants were asked to rate various speaker attributes (i.e., intelligence, confidence, friendliness, and kindness), as well as their own experience (i.e., engagement, patience, comfort, and ease of listening) while listening to the speaker. Results: Overall, the listeners who heard the aphasia self-disclosure scripts rated the speakers’ attributes more highly than the listeners who heard the script containing neutral information. In addition, those in the self-disclosure listening group rated their listening experience more highly than the group of participants who received the neutral information. The aphasia self-disclosure script appeared to have a larger effect on perceptions of the male speaker as compared to the female speaker. Conclusion: Nonaphasic listeners’ attitudes about PWA, as well as their listening experience, improve when spoken self-disclosure is involved in communication. Future research should examine the impact of self-disclosure on remote and in-person interactions between neurotypical individuals and PWA, as well as investigate the effectiveness of implementing virtual Communication Partner Training (CPT) programs.