A Systematic Search and Appraisal of Intervention Characteristics Used to Develop Varied Communication Functions in Children With Autism Who Use Aided AAC
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Logan, K., Iacono, T., et al. (2022).
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 90, 101896.
This systematic review investigates the effects of different aided augmentative and alternative communication intervention components on social-communication function in children, younger than 18 years old, on the autism spectrum.
Not stated
January 1994 to February 2019
Single-case experimental design; control versus intervention group comparison study designs
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<div>AAC teaching interventions expanded the range of communication functions of children on the autism spectrum. Teaching strategies, which were used individually or in combinations up to 4 strategies, included time delay, prompting, waiting, modelling, errorless learning and video modelling. Outcomes of different teaching targets varied as follows:</div>
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<li>Acknowledging another person's communication and answering concrete, tangible "wh" questions resulted in moderate to large effects.</li>
<li>Answering more abstract "wh" questions showed fewer to no effects.</li>
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<div>The authors found a lack of research investigating environmental engineering strategies and modeling as stand-alone strategies.</div>
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<div>Naturalistic language interventions for AAC demonstrated small effects in children on the autism spectrum. Targets included greeting others, requesting information, expressing acknowledgement, answering conversational questions, and generating unprompted comments to share.</div>
<div>Higher dosages of AAC teaching strategies and naturalistic interventions demonstrated a positive correlation with communication outcomes in children on the autism spectrum. The authors note that this conclusion should be considered preliminary due to data limitations.</div>
