Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders

Department

Communication Sciences and Disorders

First Advisor

Kara Hawthorne

Second Advisor

Davis Henderson

Third Advisor

Karen K. Kellum

Relational Format

dissertation/thesis

Abstract

Dialogic reading is a reading intervention method in which the adult prompts the child with questions and expansions. Previous research has documented that it has been effective in promoting engagement, increasing response rates, developing vocabulary knowledge, and increasing overall answer accuracy in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (Fleury, Miramontez, Hudson, & Schwartz, 2014; Fleury & Schwartz, 2016; Whalon, Martinez, Shannon, Butcher, & Hanline, 2015). The current study investigates whether children with moderate to severe language delays with or without Autism could increase their verbal and nonverbal responses and joint attention through the RECALL (Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Language and Literacy) dialogic reading method (Whalon, Delano, & Hanline, 2013). Children ages 3-7 years (n = 8) with moderate to severe language delays participated in the study for six weeks. We utilized a multiple-baseline design in multiple baseline Study (n=6) and an alternating baseline design in Alternating Treatments Study (n=2). During the intervention, the researchers read a book with the child and asked the child a completion, open-ended, wh-, wh-inference, or emotion identification question after each page. Results suggest that when children are provided more opportunities to respond (prompts), they increase number of responses. However, improvement in joint attention was not tied to the intervention method. These results indicate that dialogic reading strategies can increase responses from children with moderate to severe speech and language delays.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.