Date

Spring 2018

Document Type

Master's Thesis (Open Access)

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Teacher Education

Abstract

Due to deficits in social and communication skills, students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have challenges developing relationships and engaging in social interactions. This study replicates a previous study that measured the success of teaching conversational skills to students with ASD using behavior skills training (BST). This study amended the previous study by using peers more frequently during intervention and probes. A single-case multiple-baseline across skills design was implemented. The conversation skills targeted included eye contact, beginning a conversation, asking questions, ending a conversation, and nodding and smiling. Five kindergarten to second grade students who have a primary diagnosis of ASD and receive speech-language services participated in the intervention. The intervention setting used was a reverse mainstreaming instructional model. Results supported the findings of the previous study that BST is an effective communication skill intervention for students with ASD and also provided additional evidence that including peers in the intervention is important to the generalization of skills to other settings and partners.

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