title: Replacing prelinguistic behaviors with functional communication.
abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a teacher-implemented intervention package designed to replace prelinguistic behaviors with functional communication. Four young children with autism participated in a multiple-probe design across three communicative functions. Initially, three existing communication functions were selected for each child. Next, the existing prelinguistic behaviors that the children used to achieve these functions were identified. Replacement forms that were considered more recognizable and symbolic were defined to achieve these same functions. After a baseline phase, teachers received inservice training, consultation, and feedback on how to encourage, acknowledge, and respond to the replacement forms. During intervention, the replacement forms increased and prelinguistic behaviors decreased in most cases. The results suggested that the teacher-implemented intervention was effective in replacing prelinguistic behaviors with alternative forms of functional communication.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education, The University of Queensland and The Caroline Chisholm Centre, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Keen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sigafoos
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Woodyatt
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013070:Speech Therapy; D013663:Teaching