Constant time delay to teach receptive language via sign language to an adolescent with autism spectrum disorder

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention using constant time delay (CTD) and prompting in teaching a nonvocal adolescent with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to answer questions using manual sign language.

A multiple-probe design across four different question sets was employed to evaluate the efficacy of CTD in facilitating question-answering via an sign language.

Throughout the intervention phase, the participant's performance on all four sets showed consistent improvement, demonstrating the potential of CTD and prompting in enhancing receptive language skills. The participant maintained mastery of these skills after the intervention was withdrawn and demonstrated generalization across novel sets, further supporting the effectiveness and strength of the learning achieved.

The results of this study suggest that CTD and prompting are useful strategies for teaching communication skills to children with ASD, particularly sign language skills, which can help support functional communication in nonvocal individuals.