JCPSLP VOL 15 No 1 March 2013

Table 1. Articles reporting the use of iPads ® or iPods ® for supporting communication intervention for children with ASD Authors/ Year No. participants Intervention Summary of findings (age range) focus/ device 1. Kagohara et al. (2010) 1 (17) Requesting preferred Participant learned to select icon to select snack items with items: iPod ® support of delayed prompting and differential reinforcement. 2. van der Meer et al. (2011) 3 (13–23) Requesting preferred One participant with ASD (age 13) and two participants with items: iPod

severe intellectual disability (ID) without ASD. Participant with ASD and one participant with ID learned to use the iPod to request toys and snacks. One participant with ID did not learn to use iPod.

3. Achmadi et al. (2012)

2 (13 & 17)

Requesting preferred Both participants were successfully taught to turn on iPods and items: iPod to request preferred items. Requesting preferred Three participants showed increased use of iPads to request items: iPad items compared to picture-based system.

4. Flores et al. (2012)

5 (8–11)

5. Kagohara, et al. (2012)

2 (13, 17)

Picture naming:

Both participants learned to use both iPods and iPads to name

iPod or iPad

pictures.

6. van der Meer,

4 (5–10)

Requesting preferred All participants learned to use iPod to request preferred items.

Kagohara et al. (2012)*

items: iPod

Three participants indicated a preference for the iPod and one participant preferred manual signs.

7. van der Meer,

4 (6–13)

Requesting preferred All participants learned to use iPod to request preferred items.

Didden et al. (2012)*

items: iPod

Three participants indicated preference for the iPod and one participant preferred a picture exchange system.

8. van der Meer,

4 (4–11)

Requesting preferred All participants learned to use iPod to request preferred items.

Sutherland et al. (2012)*

items: iPod and iPad

Three participants indicated initial preference for the iPod. One participant did not indicate a clear preference. Preferences changed as proficiency with AAC systems increased.

* These studies also investigated participants’ preferences for using iPods ® compared to picture exchange and manual signs.

to the participants’ classroom in a special education unit of a regular primary school. A multiple-probe across participants and alternating- treatments study design was utilised. This involved these phases: baseline; intervention; preference assessments; post-intervention and follow-up. The alternating-treatments design was put in place to compare participants’ skills on the two AAC options. Baseline During the baseline phase, the participants were provided access to the iPod ® and a visual prompt for the manual sign for either a snack or toy. If participants pressed the appropriate iPod ® symbol, a synthesised spoken message was produced i.e., “ I want a snack please” (food), or “ I want to play ” (toy) (p. 1662). Correct selection of the iPod ® symbol or production of the manual sign resulted in participants being offered a selection of snack items or toys. During the baseline phase, 1 of the 4 children requested items using the iPod ® (with up to 30% accuracy) but no children produced manual signs. Intervention During intervention, the researcher created opportunities for the children to request by saying “ Here’s a tray of snacks. Let me know if you want something ” accompanied by visual and verbal prompting (e.g., pointing to the snack items). S/he also provided graduated assistance (e.g., for some children this initially involved full “hand-over-hand”) and verbal prompting (e.g., “ Press ‘play’ to ask to play with a toy ”). The criterion level for each AAC option was set at 80% correct unassisted requests over 3 consecutive sessions. Data were collected on the number of requests and level of prompting in each session. A second observer obtained reliability data by recording requests and level of

prompting. The mean inter-observer reliability figure reported was 99.6% across 43% of all sessions. Preference measures involved presenting participants with both the iPod ® and manual sign visual prompt and asking “ Which communication option would you like to use? Sign language on this side (while pointing), or the iPod ® on this side (while pointing) ” (p. 1663). Results All four participants learned to make requests using the iPod ® . Three participants learned to request items using manual signs. Three participants demonstrated preference for the iPod ® while one child preferred the use of the manual sign. Preferences remained consistent across the study. The three participants who preferred the iPod ® also learned to use it more quickly and maintained their learned skills at a higher level than they did with manual signs. Strengths This study had several strengths in both its design and execution. These included: • The single-case experimental study design and control measures (e.g., multiple baseline); • inter-observer data reliability figure of 99.6%; • clear and positive results in both the learned skills and preference assessments. Weaknesses The authors identified several weaknesses of the study. These included: • small number of participants (n = 4); • only the communication skill of “requesting” was investigated; • only two communication options were considered;

41

JCPSLP Volume 15, Number 1 2013

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au