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

This study looked at teaching sign language to a teenager with autism who doesn't speak. Researchers used a teaching method called 'constant time delay' with prompts to help the teen learn to answer questions using sign language. The approach worked well - the teenager improved at answering questions and kept these skills even after the teaching stopped. This suggests this teaching method could help other non-speaking children with autism learn to communicate through sign language.

This case study evaluated constant time delay (CTD) and prompting to teach receptive language skills through sign language to a nonvocal adolescent with autism spectrum disorder. Using a multiple-probe design across four question sets, the intervention demonstrated consistent improvement in the participant's ability to answer questions using manual sign language. The participant maintained these skills after intervention withdrawal and showed generalization to novel question sets. The findings suggest CTD and prompting are effective strategies for teaching sign language communication skills to nonvocal individuals with ASD, supporting functional communication development.

Constant time delay with prompting shows promise for teaching sign language communication skills to nonvocal adolescents with ASD. The maintenance and generalization effects suggest this approach could support functional communication development in clinical and educational settings.

Single case study design limits generalizability. Sample size not reported in abstract. No comparison group or control condition. Limited information about participant characteristics, intervention duration, or measurement procedures provided in the abstract.

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 The participant maintained mastery of these skills after the intervention was withdrawn and demonstrated generalization across novel sets, further supporting the effectiveness and strength of the learning achieved.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.