Delayed language development is often the primary concern for parents of children with autism. It is this delay that initially provokes parents to have children evaluated for this disorder. Delayed oral language affects an array of important life skills such as social communication and emergent literacy. This study has been designed to target expressive vocabulary, a fundamental aspect of language, using a storybook reading intervention based on dialogic reading. The differential effects of dialogic reading enhanced with attention cues compared to dialogic reading alone on expressive language behaviors were measured using an alternating treatment design. The results of this study indicate that the participants with autism spectrum characteristics benefited from dialogic reading with or without attention cues. All the children with autism were able to increase their vocabulary use by the completion of the intervention regardless of the treatment condition. Additionally, positive gains were noticed on the standardized assessments related to vocabulary acquisition. The teachers of the children with autism reported the interventions resulted in favorable changes in their students' vocabulary use during storybook reading sessions and in spontaneous language use within the classroom. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2011. / Date of Defense: February 22, 2011. / Adult Child Book Reading, Naturalistic Intervention, Pictorial Cue, Spontaneous Verbalization, Early Literacy Skills, Joint Book Reading / Includes bibliographical references. / Bruce M. Menchetti, Professor Directing Dissertation; Chris Schatschneider, University Representative; Stephanie Dent Al Otaiba, Committee Member; Beth Phillips, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_168809 |
| Contributors | Plattos, Gina (authoraut), Menchetti, Bruce M. (professor directing dissertation), Schatschneider, Chris (university representative), Al Otaiba, Stephanie Dent (committee member), Phillips, Beth (committee member), School of Teacher Education (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
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