運用輔助溝通系統對於自閉症兒童發展請求技巧之成效

Abstract

溝通是獨立生活的重要因素之一。自閉症兒童在與他人互動時，往往無法像典型發展的同儕一樣能夠清楚表達其需求與願望。因此，請求行為對於促進自閉症兒童的獨立生活具有關鍵意義。輔助溝通系統為一種有助於增進社交溝通技巧之工具，可有效促進自閉症兒童的請求能力。本研究旨在評估結合最多到最少提示策略之輔助溝通系統介入對自閉症兒童請求行為的成效，並進一步探討在不同情境中的類化情形。本研究採單一受試實驗法之跨受試多探試設計，參與對象為三位居住於印度、年齡介於3至10歲的自閉症兒童，旨在評估輔助溝通系統對其請求技能之成效。當輔助溝通系統介入與最多到最少提示策略實施時，三位參與者之請求行為均有顯著提升。研究結果顯示，介入與請求行為表現之間具有顯著的功能關係。參與者亦展現出請求行為在不同情境中的類化效果。此外，受試者們請求技能之效應量也達高度效應量。本研究結果支持輔助溝通系統介入與最多到最少提示策略可有效提升自閉症兒童之請求技能，並促進該技能在不同情境中的類化。本研究也顯示在資源有限之情境下，行動裝置為基礎的溝通輔助系統具備文化與實務上的可行性，並可能帶來詞彙學習、專注力提升與減少問題行為等附加益處。本研究結果顯示，輔助溝通系統介入結合最多到最少提示策略為一有效促進自閉症兒童功能性溝通之介入方式。此整合策略可作為教育及家庭場域中具成本效益且實用的教學方案。Background: Communication is an important factor for independent living.Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) fail to communicate with othersand express their needs and desires like their other neurotypical peers. Therefore,requesting contributes to the independent life of children with ASD.Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is a tool which promotessocial communication skills such as the requesting skill in children with ASD.The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of AAC interventionby using the most to least prompting strategy to develop requesting skills inchildren with ASD and to generalize this skill to a different setting. Method: Threechildren with ASD, aged 3 to 10 years and residing in India, participated in thisstudy. A multiple probe experimental design across participants was used toevaluate the effectiveness of AAC on requesting skill of children with ASD.Results: All three participant's requesting skills significantly improved when AAC was implemented along with the most to least prompting strategy. A functional relation was found between the use of the most to least prompting strategy combined with the AAC application and the development of requesting skills, suggesting that this combined method can be an effective intervention for enhancing communication in children. Furthermore, the target behavior was generalized across different settings for all three participants. The effect size ofrequesting skill across participants was large. Discussion: This studydemonstrated that AAC applications combined with most to least prompting,effectively increased independent requesting skills in children with ASD andsupported generalization across settings. It further highlights the cultural andpractical relevance of mobile-based AAC tools in resource limited contexts withadditional benefits including vocabulary acquisition, increased attention andreduction in problem behaviors. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the mostto least prompting strategy in combination with AAC is an effective approach toteaching and promoting functional communication among children with ASD.The integration of this approach offers a practical, cost-effective solution for botheducational and home settings.