“Two Friends Spending Time Together”: The Impact of Video Visual Scene Displays on Peer Social Interaction for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Purpose Social interaction poses many challenges for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and complex communication needs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of video visual scene displays (video VSDs) on communication during interactions between adolescents with ASD and peer partners. Method This study used an across-participant multiple-baseline single-case experimental design. Four adolescents with ASD and complex communication needs were taught to use video VSDs, presented on a tablet-based app, during social interactions with peer partners in a high school setting. The video VSDs used during the interactions were selected (and programmed with vocabulary) based on the interests of the adolescent with ASD and their peer partner. Results Following the introduction of the video VSD intervention, all four adolescents with ASD demonstrated an increase in communicative turns compared to baseline (Tau- U = 1.0, 95% CI [0.56, 1]), and all four increased in modes of communication used. Increased use of speech also was observed for the three participants who made use of speech prior to the intervention. All participants with ASD (and their peer partners) expressed an interest in continued use of the video VSD app to support social interaction. Conclusion The use of video VSDs may be a viable option to increase the participation and communication of adolescents with ASD during social interactions with peer partners. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16734532

Verbal Behaviors of Preschool Stutterers and Conversational Partners

Standard counseling practices with the families of young stutterers include recommendations that listeners' negative verbal behaviors be modified in order to reduce the likelihood of stuttering. This study tested the hypothesis that stuttering and normal disfluencies in preschool stutterers are related to selected verbal behaviors in conversational partners. Twelve 2- to 6-year-old stutterers were video recorded while playing with their mother, father, and a familiar peer. The resulting videotapes were transcribed and two types of social communicative analyses (total number of words and utterances, verbal intent of the speaker) were undertaken. Results suggested that fathers used more words and utterances than mothers and peers. Parents provided more positive interactions with their stutterer offspring than did peers. Parents also asked significantly more negative and routine questions when talking to their stuttering child. Peer playmates were significantly more negative and generally commented more frequently when interacting with stutterers than did the parents. Stutterers were involved in significantly more positive interactions with their fathers. The frequency of fluency failures did not differ significantly when stutterers communicated with their mother, father, or peer partners. Implications regarding verbal styles of partners in relationship to the stuttering of preschool children are discussed.

Effects of Socially Outgoing versus Withdrawn Nonhandicapped Peer Partners on Nonhandicapped/Handicapped Student Interactions

An alternating treatments design (Barlow & Hayes, 1979) was employed to compare the effects of socially outgoing versus socially withdrawn nonhandicapped preschool age peer partners upon nonhandicapped/handicapped peer interactions. A teacher nomination process was used to select nonhandicapped children considered the most outgoing and the least outgoing within a preschool for nonhandicapped students. A severely emotionally disabled, withdrawn student from a preschool handicapped program served as the target subject. The results were that the total number of nonhandicapped/handicapped social interactions as well as the number of social initiations by the withdrawn target subject were greater when the subject was paired with a socially outgoing nonhandicapped peer.