Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES, 2025 (SSCI)
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly have language difficulties, and approximately 25%-30% of children are non-verbal or have no functional speech. Therefore considerable number of people with ASD are candidate for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Speech-generating devices (SGD) are the most preferred type of AAC among individuals with ASD. To date, many mobile applications have been developed to use tablet computers as SGDs and various methods, techniques, and strategies are employed to teach communication skills using SGDs. The present study examined the effect of the adapted picture exchange communication systems protocol (PECS) (Phases 1-3) in teaching the requesting skills with a SGD. It was also measured whether the participants maintained and generalized the target skill. Participants included three children with ASD between the ages of 4-5. This study was conducted using a multiple probe design across participants. The results showed that the SGD and the adapted PECS protocol were effective in ensuring that the participants acquired the requesting skill. Furthermore, it was observed that the participants maintained the target skill one, three, and five weeks after the intervention and generalized the target skill to different settings and people. The results revealed a functional relationship between the intervention and the dependent variable. Future research directions and limitations of the study are discussed.