PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A M Wetherby

Publications and source records attributed to A M Wetherby.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Understanding the continuum of discrete-trial traditional behavioral to social-pragmatic developmental approaches in communication enhancement for young children with autism/PDD.

Clinicians are faced with the challenge of making informed decisions amidst heated debates over the most effective treatment approaches for young children with autism. This article provides a more specific focus to this debate by considering the practice of enhancing spontaneous language and related social-communicative abilities of young children with autism/pervasive developmental disorder (PPD). First, a historical perspective of the evolution of different approaches for enhancing communication and related abilities is presented, followed by a description of characteristics of the approaches. The approaches are described along a continuum from massed discrete trial, traditional behavioral to social-pragmatic, developmental. The current state of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of early services for children with autism/PDD is examined and conclusions are presented with consideration of the need for more meaningful outcome measures than are currently used for the next generation of outcome research.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1992

Measurement of communicative intentions in normally developing children during structured and unstructured contexts.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sampling context on measurements of communicative intentions expressed by 15 normally developing children during the prelinguistic, one-word, and multiword stages. A communication sample using both structured and unstructured contexts was collected from each subject as he or she interacted with a clinician and parent at each language stage. Direct comparisons were made between the uses of requests and comments during the structured and unstructured sampling contexts. The results indicated that the mean number of requests and comments increased significantly from the prelinguistic to the multiword stage in both contexts. Significantly more requests were used during the structured context, but no significant difference was found between the numbers of comments used in the two contexts. Factors to consider in sampling communication from developmentally young children are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1992

Profile of the prelinguistic intentional communicative behaviors of children with profound mental retardation.

The prelinguistic intentional communicative behaviors of 10 noninstitutionalized children with profound mental retardation were analyzed according to five profile parameters: communicative rate, communicative function, discourse structure, communicative means, and syllable shape. Subjects used a predominance of regulatory communicative functions, initiated discourse structure, gestural communicative means, and nontranscribable vocalizations/vocalizations without consonants. Findings were compared to previously reported data from children without mental retardation and institutionalized children with severe and profound mental retardation.

Child↗
PubMed1989

Communicative profiles of preschool children with handicaps: implications for early identification.

The purpose of this study was to compare the communicative profiles of preschool children with handicaps to those of normal children functioning in the prelinguistic and one-word stage using standard sampling procedures. The children with handicaps included 4 with Down syndrome, 4 with specific language impairments, and 3 with autism. Measures obtained from the communication samples included rates of intentional communication and proportions of communicative functions, discourse structure, communicative means, and syllabic shape. The results of the children with Down syndrome fell within the normal range on all parameters. The common pattern displayed by the children with specific language impairments was a deviation in syllabic shape. The children with autism displayed adequate rates of communicating but fell outside of the normal range for their language stage on the other communicative parameters. Clinical implications of these findings for the early identification of children with communicative impairments are discussed.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1988

Analysis of intentional communication of normal children from the prelinguistic to the multiword stage.

The purpose of this study was to collect quantitative measures describing the use of intentional communication by 15 normal children during the prelinguistic, one-word, and multiword stages. A standard communication sample was collected at each language stage from each subject interacting with a clinician. Measures of rates of intentional communicative acts indicated an average of about 1 act per min at the prelinguistic stage, 2 acts per min at the one-word stage, and 5 acts per min by the multiword stage. Analysis of communicative functions indicated that virtually all of the subjects displayed some acts for regulating behavior, engaging in social interaction, and referencing joint attention at all language stages. Changes in the proportions of specific communicative functions at each language stage were found. Analysis of discourse structure using these sampling procedures indicated that most subjects engaged in more initiated than respondent acts. Analysis of communicative means showed that the predominant means were gestural and vocal during the prelinguistic and one-word stage and verbal by the multiword stage. Changes in the proportions of isolated and coordinated gestures and vocalizations at each language stage were found. General descriptions of the syllabic shapes of intentional vocal acts at the prelinguistic and one-word stages demonstrated that most of the subjects used a substantial proportion of consonants in both mono- and multisyllabic vocalizations. Clinical applications of these findings to the early identification of children with the potential for language impairments will be discussed.

Child Language↗
PubMed1986

Ontogeny of communicative functions in autism.

Autistic children have been stereotyped as noncommunicative and noninteractive; however, this may be partly attributed to traditional research approaches that do not consider the intentions of the child or the context of the social interaction. This discussion reviews some recent investigations that have used a developmental pragmatics framework to study language and communicative behaviors associated with autism. A working model of the ontogeny of communicative functions in autistic children is proposed. The communicative profile associated with autism is explained by factors related to the child's language-learning environment, as well as factors inherent in the child. Clinical implications for the design of language intervention programs for autistic children are offered.

Attention↗
PubMed1984

Profiles of communicative and cognitive-social abilities in autistic children.

The purpose of this study was to examine profiles of communicative and cognitive-social abilities in a small group of autistic children functioning in the prelinguistic and early stages of language development and to compare them with those of normal children functioning at similar stages of language development. The results of measures in the cognitive-social areas of communicative intent, tool use, imitation, and play and in language comprehension demonstrated uneven development for the autistic subjects. A functional analysis of communicative behaviors indicated that, despite a wide variation in communicative means, the autistic subjects displayed a relatively homogeneous profile of communicative functions that was both quantitatively and qualitatively different from the normal profile. Explanations for the heterochrony in communicative and cognitive-social development of these autistic children are discussed.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1982

Cognition and language development in autism.

A nonverbal assessment procedure was designed to characterize cognition using a Piagetian framework. Six autistic children, five echolalic and one nonverbal, ranging in age from 4:8 to 15:2, participated in this study. Cognitive and language performance was assessed using a developmental stage model. All six children evidenced competence beyond sensorimotor Stage VI, and demonstrated cognitive functioning between the periods of early preoperational and concrete operations. For five of the six children, the stage of cognitive development exceeded that of language development. The application of a developmental model for assessment purposes and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Central auditory nervous system dysfunction in echolalic autistic individuals.

Accumulating evidence indicates either a primary or secondary cortical dysfunction in the language-dominant hemisphere of autistic children. In this study, the central auditory function of six autistic subjects was assessed experimentally using a battery of tests which included the Staggered Spondaic Word Test, the Competing Environmental Sound Test, and monaural hearing tests, as well as supplementary measures of language and handedness. The autistic subjects ranged from 8 to 24 years in age and displayed a wide range of language abilities and severity of echolalia. The results showed that all the subjects had normal hearing on the monaural speech tests; however, there was indication of central auditory nervous system dysfunction in the language dominant hemisphere, inferred from the dichotic tests, for those subjects displaying echolalia. Essentially normal dichotic test results were obtained for those subjects who were previously diagnosed as autistic but were not longer echolalic. One subject who received a year of intensive language treatment was assessed periodically throughout the year to chart changes in performance on the test of central auditory function for dichotic stimuli. This subject showed changes in the dichotic test of central auditory function which were consistent with the language improvement shown during the year. For each subject, the locus of central auditory dysfunction indicated by the assessment measures was consistent with the characterized language deficits. The results are discussed from a neurolinguistic framework in an effort to delineate a neurogenic etiology of autistic language deficits.

Adolescent↗