Date of Award

5-2019

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education

Committee Chair(s)

Sandra Gillam

Committee

Sandra Gillam

Committee

Ronald Gillam

Committee

Kathleen Mohr

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a narrative intervention on narrative proficiency and the use of complex sentences for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).

Method: Two multiple-baseline across participants studies were conducted. Five participants with ASD ages 8 to 12 and six participants with DLD ages 6;7 to 10;4 participated in each study. Narrative proficiency and syntactic complexity were examined during baseline, intervention, and follow-up periods.

Results: All of the children in the ASD increased in narrative and syntactic complexity by the end of the study. Three of the four in the DLD group demonstrated improvement in narrative proficiency, and two demonstrated the use of more complex sentences.

Discussion: Students with ASD and DLD may respond differentially to narrative instruction, which is suggestive of different underlying mechanisms contributing to the disorders.

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Communication Commons

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