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A COMPARISON OF GROUP VERSUS INDIVIDUAL THERAPY ON THE OUTPUT OF APPROPRIATE UTTERANCES IN A SIX-YEAR-OLD GIRL WITH AUTISM: A CASE STUDY

Children with autism spectrum disorders typically experience language deficits in multiple areas, including form, content, and use. These children often receive speech therapy with individual sessions (one child and clinician), group sessions (several children), or a combination of both. Although research has deemed individual therapy successful, there is still debate regarding the success of group therapy, and there is virtually no literature examining a comparison between individual and group therapy. The current case-study investigated the relative effectiveness of individual versus group therapy for one six-year-old female with moderate autism spectrum disorder. The child underwent ten alternating therapy sessions of similar structure with consistent language targets during one academic semester. All sessions were transcribed using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) conventions, and analyzed via the SALT program and Microsoft Excel t-tests. Results indicate that individual sessions yielded larger improvement with syntax and semantics, while group sessions produced greater progress with pragmatics and social skills, suggesting that a combination of both therapy types may be most beneficial. Social validation of group therapy also signified high parent satisfaction with overall growth during the semester. Implications of this study, as well as recommendations for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:uky.edu/oai:uknowledge.uky.edu:rehabsci_etds-1004
Date01 January 2012
CreatorsSheridan, McKinzie Craig
PublisherUKnowledge
Source SetsUniversity of Kentucky
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations--Rehabilitation Sciences

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