Evaluation of a Combined Explicit–Implicit Approach to Teach Grammatical Forms to Children With Grammatical Weaknesses

Purpose Many children with developmental disorders experience difficulty mastering grammatical forms, including children with developmental language disorder and a subset of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One of the key language features in both of these populations is a weakness in t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of speech-language pathology Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 63 - 79
Main Authors: Finestack, Lizbeth, Engman, Jennifer, Huang, Timothy, Bangert, Katherine J., Bader, Kaela
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 07.02.2020
Subjects:
Accuracy
Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorder - complications
Autistic children
Child
Child, Preschool
Children
Developmental disabilities
Developmental disorders
Direct Instruction
Disorders
Grammar
Grammar instruction
Humans
Intervention
Language
Language Development Disorders - etiology
Language Development Disorders - therapy
Language disorders
Language Impairments
Language Skills
Language Tests
Language Therapy - methods
Male
Morphemes
Native language instruction
Play and Playthings
Researcher subject relations
Strength
Teaching
Teaching methods
ISSN:1058-0360, 1558-9110, 1558-9110
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Purpose Many children with developmental disorders experience difficulty mastering grammatical forms, including children with developmental language disorder and a subset of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One of the key language features in both of these populations is a weakness in the expressive use of grammatical forms. There is a paucity of studies that evaluate the effectiveness of interventions targeting grammatical forms for populations other than developmental language disorder. The current study evaluated a combined explicit-implicit intervention approach to teach grammatical forms to children with ASD symptomology. Method Researchers used a single-subject, nonconcurrent multiple baseline, A-B-C study design. Three children with characteristics of ASD (2 with formal diagnoses) between the ages of 5 and 9 years participated in treatment targeting a weak grammatical structure. After baseline, each participant completed a series of treatment sessions that comprised implicit instruction, followed by a series of treatment sessions that incorporated explicit instruction. Accuracy of use was assessed during each session across baseline, implicit-only, and explicit-implicit conditions as well as 1 week, 1 month, and 2 months posttreatment. Results All participants produced target forms with low accuracy across baseline and implicit-only treatment sessions. Within three explicit-implicit treatment sessions, all participants demonstrated a marked increase in level and upward trend in their production accuracy. Gains in accuracy were maintained 2 months posttreatment for 2 of the 3 participants. Conclusions The current study provides preliminary evidence to support the use of explicit approaches to teach grammatical forms to children with ASD symptomology and motivates further investigation in this area.
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ISSN:1058-0360
1558-9110
1558-9110
DOI:10.1044/2019_AJSLP-19-0056