The use of technology in intervention and instruction for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is increasing at a striking rate. The purpose of this paper is to examine the research literature underlying the use of technology in interventions and instruction for high school students with ASD. In this paper, authors propose a theoretical and conceptual framework for examining the use of technology by and for adolescents with ASD in school, home, and community settings. This framework is then used to describe the research literature on efficacy of intervention and instruction that utilizes technology. A review of the literature from 1990 to the end of 2013 identified 30 studies that documented efficacy of different forms of technology and their impact on academics, adaptive behavior, challenging behavior, communication, independence, social competence, and vocational skills.

The First Year Inventory (FYI) is a parent questionnaire designed to assess behaviors in 12-month-olds that suggest risk for an eventual diagnosis of autism. We examined the construct validity of the FYI by comparing retrospective responses of parents of preschool children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; n = 38), other developmental disabilities (DD; n = 15), and typical development (TD; n = 40). Children with ASD were rated at significantly higher risk on the FYI than children with DD or TD. The DD group was at intermediate risk, also significantly higher than the TD group. These retrospective data strengthen the validity of the FYI and have implications for refining the FYI to improve its utility for prospective screening of 12-month-olds.

Purpose-Compare gesture use in infants with autism to infants with other developmental disabilities (DD) or typical development (TD).Method-Children with autism (n = 43), other DD (n = 30), and TD (n = 36) were recruited at ages 2 to 7 years. Parents provided home videotapes of children in infancy. Staff compiled video samples for two age intervals (9-12 and 15-18 months), and coded samples for frequency of social interaction (SI), behavior regulation (BR), and joint attention (JA) gestures.Results-At 9-12 months, infants with autism were less likely to use JA gestures than infants with other DD or TD, and less likely to use BR gestures than infants with TD. At 15-18 months, infants with autism were less likely than infants with other DD to use SI or JA gestures, and less likely than infants with TD to use BR, SI, or JA gestures. Among infants able to use gestures, infants with autism used fewer BR gestures than those with TD at 9-12 months, and fewer JA gestures than infants with other DD or TD at 15-18 months.Conclusions-Differences in gesture use in infancy have implications for early autism screening, assessment, and intervention.

This study describes the language environment of preschool programs serving children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and examines relationships between child characteristics and an automated measure of adult and child language in the classroom. The Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system was used with 40 children with ASD to collect data on adult and child language. Standardized assessments were administered to obtain language, cognitive, and autism severity scores for participants. With a mean of over 5 hours of recording across two days several months apart, there was a mean of 3.6 child vocalizations per minute, 1.0 conversational turns (in which either the adult or child respond to the other within 5 seconds) per minute, and 29.2 adult words per minute. Two of the three LENA variables were significantly correlated with language age-equivalents. Cognitive age-equivalents were also significantly correlated with two LENA variables. Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule severity scores and LENA variables were not significantly correlated. Implications for using the LENA system with children with ASD in the school environment are discussed.