Alexandria Digital Research Library

Targeting Prosodic Atypicalities Using Self-Management for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Author:
Koegel, Brittany Lynn
Degree Grantor:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Education
Degree Supervisor:
George H. Singer
Place of Publication:
[Santa Barbara, Calif.]
Publisher:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Creation Date:
2014
Issued Date:
2014
Topics:
Psychology, Clinical, Education, Special, and Education, Educational Psychology
Keywords:
Self-Management
Asperger
Autism
Adults
Conversation
Prosody
Genres:
Online resources and Dissertations, Academic
Dissertation:
Ph.D.--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014
Description:

There is a considerable amount of literature reporting prosody is atypical in most individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), however there is almost no literature addressing interventions for improving these prosodic atypicialities. This study used a concurrent multiple baseline design to assess whether adults with ASD could be taught appropriate prosody within the context of a self-management program. Additionally, the study assessed whether improvements in prosody would generalize outside of the intervention setting to the participants' natural environments. Data showed improvements in prosody in the clinical setting following intervention with generalization for two of three participants across settings and conversational partners. Long-term generalization occurred for all the three participants, as well. Further, a six-point normalcy scale was used to assess whether naive observers scored any collateral gains in how natural participants' general conversations sounded before and following the intervention. These observers rated the conversation as sounding more natural following intervention. Finally, data were collected to assess the participants' acceptability of the intervention, which participants found intervention helpful and unstressful. Results indicate that self-management may be an effective strategy for improving prosody in adults with ASD.

Physical Description:
1 online resource (73 pages)
Format:
Text
Collection(s):
UCSB electronic theses and dissertations
ARK:
ark:/48907/f3s180nt
ISBN:
9781321202212
Catalog System Number:
990045116010203776
Rights:
Inc.icon only.dark In Copyright
Copyright Holder:
Brittany Koegel
File Description
Access: Public access
Koegel_ucsb_0035D_12161.pdf pdf (Portable Document Format)