Examining the effect of incorporating student-preferred augmentative and alternative communication options on intervention outcomes (social communication skills – greeting, requesting behavior and answering questions)
Most of the identified studies examine the effect of different AAC options (PECS, SGDs and manual signaling) on social communication skills or on the behaviors of individuals with ASD across all age ranges. However, recommendation of the best AAC option for preschool children depends more on the communication professional or teacher preference than on student preference. As a result, a number of students do not make use of the recommended best AAC option. An experiment with two pre-school children will be conducted to determine the effect of a student-preferred AAC option on intervention outcomes by answering three research questions.
RQ1: Does incorporating a student-preferred AAC option influence the speed of skill acquisition?
RQ2: Does using a student-preferred AAC option influence the efficiency of learning?
RQ3: Does using a student-preferred AAC option influence the generalization?