Increasing play-based commenting in children with autism spectrum disorder using a novel script-frame procedure

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Applied Behavior Analysis

Background:

• Children with developmental disabilities often exhibit limited and repetitive language patterns compared to typically developing peers.
• Scripting is an established intervention to enhance communication by teaching specific phrases and gradually removing them.
• Existing methods may not fully generalize learned communication skills to novel situations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a novel script-frame protocol for improving spontaneous, play-related commenting in preschoolers with developmental disabilities.
• To assess the generalization of commenting skills to untrained play activities and comments.
• To determine if communication improvements persist after the script-frame intervention is faded.

Main Methods:

• Preschoolers with developmental disabilities participated in a script-frame protocol focused on play-related toy comments.
• The protocol involved teaching specific comments within a structured play context.
• Intervention involved fading the script support to encourage independent commenting.

Main Results:

• Following the script-frame protocol, children produced play-related comments independently of the scripts.
• Commenting generalized to new, untrained play activities.
• Children also produced novel, untrained comments during play sessions.

Conclusions:

• The script-frame protocol is an effective method for increasing spontaneous and generalized communication in young children with developmental disabilities.
• This intervention facilitates the development of flexible and contextually appropriate language skills.
• Script-fading within a structured framework promotes sustained communication gains.