AN EVALUATION OF BACKWARD CHAINING TO TEACH A MAND TOPOGRAPHY USING A SPEECH GENERATING DEVICE TO CHILDREN ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with language and communication difficulties (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Speech generating devices (SGD) in combination with behavioral intervention packages, have been utilized to develop communication skills of children with ASD and other developmental disabilities (Muharib et al., 2019). The current study evaluated the efficacy of a novel backward chaining procedure to teach multi-step requesting using an SGD. Three male children with ASD were systematically introduced to a communication device using a multiple probe across participants design. Results indicated that the intervention was effective and maintained for two of the three participants. Implications for clinical application of study findings and future research are discussed.