The Effect of Computers with Synthesized Speech and No Speech on the Spontaneous Communication of Children with Autism

Abstract

This study compared the effect of computer assisted communication intervention with synthesized speech and without synthesized speech on the frequency of spontaneous utterances of individuals with autism. Subjects were 6 children attending a school for children with autism. Ages ranged from 4;8 to 6;8 years. A single-subject interactional expreimental design was used and the frequency of spontaneous utterances was tallied during the computer-assisted communication intervention. Both additive (A-B-BC-B-BC) and reductive (A-BC-B-BC-B) designs were used to control for order effects. Results were interpreted through visual analysis. The data indicated that computer assisted intervention without synthesized speech produced no change in the frequency of spontaneous utterances. When synthesized speech was added, the frequency of spontaneous utterances increased. The results indicated that computer assisted communication intervention using synthesized speech can increase the frequency of spontaneous utterances of...