Feasibility and Initial Efficacy of an Adapted Telepractice Listening Comprehension Intervention for School-Aged Children with Autism

Abstract

This study evaluates the feasibility and initial efficacy of an 11-week listening comprehension intervention, Building Vocabulary and Early Reading Strategies (BVERS) that was delivered remotely to 14 elementary-aged children with autism spectrum disorder. Children were randomly assigned to one of two groups: BVERS only, or BVERS with a parent instructional component (BVERS + PC). Results indicate that the intervention was feasible to implement. All parents were satisfied with intervention implementation, and 8 of 10 stated that they were satisfied with their child’s outcomes following the intervention. Results of a Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed growth in listening comprehension following the intervention, but no growth in narrative retell or vocabulary. There were no group differences in change scores from pre- to post-test.

Planning and Implementing Effective Language and Reading Comprehension Instructional Techniques for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Cognitive Disabilities

“…Instructional intensification such as repeated exposure, specific modeling, longer duration or more frequent dosage of lessons, and frequent cumulative review and practice, have all been found to be beneficial for students with ID when developing reading skills. Recent studies have found that students with ID, including ID and autism, can develop reading skills beyond just sight word memorization, including decoding and language comprehension skills (Afacan et al, 2018;Browder et al, 2008;Conner et al, 2022;Henry et al, 2022;Lemons et al, 2015Lemons et al, , 2017.…”