Teaching Two Autistic Children to Request Continuation of Social Routines with Their Parents Using an iPad®-Based Speech-Generating Device

Objectives Many minimally verbal autistic children may benefit from learning to use a speech-generating device (SGD) to communicate. There is limited research examining the effects of teaching autistic children to use SGDs during social interactions or routines. Methods This study evaluated the effects of systematic instruction for teaching two autistic children to request the continuation of actions using an iPad (R)-based SGD. A multiple baseline across participants design was used and instruction occurred during preferred social routines between each child and their mother. Results Results suggest that both children learned to request the continuation of actions during preferred social routines with their parents. They were also able to choose between routines and showed some evidence of generalization of this skill to a researcher. Conclusions These results suggest that systematic instructional procedures may be effective in teaching autistic children to request in the context of motivating social routines.

Automated summary

This study examined the effects of teaching two autistic children to request the continuation of actions using an iPad-based SGD during social interactions. The results showed that systematic instructional procedures were effective in improving the children's requesting behavior and that this skill generalized to other environments.