An iPad play story was utilized to increase the pretend play skills of 4 preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders. The story utilized a series of video clips depicting toy figures producing scripted character dialogue, engaged in a pretend play vignette. A multiple baseline design across participants was utilized with play dialogue as the dependent variable. Three of the participants demonstrated increases in the target behavior with Nonoverlap of All Pairs analysis revealing moderate and strong effects across intervention phases. Effects were largely maintained during generalization opportunities with peers and during a 3-week follow-up condition.

The Social-Communication Assessment Tool (S-CAT) Was created as a direct observation instrument to quantify specific social and communication deficits of children With autism spectrum disorders (ASD) Within educational settings. In this pilot study, the instrument's content validity and interrater reliability Were investigated to determine the degree to Which the S-CAT categorically discriminated betWeen children With ASD and those Without ASD. S-CAT ratings of 16 children With ASD Were compared to the ratings of 16 children Without ASD using a one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA). Differences in verbal initiations, verbal responses, joint attention, and total interactions Were significant at the .01 level. Differences in nonverbal communication attempts Were not significant. The results suggest that the S-CAT is valid for discriminating betWeen children With and Without ASD.

This study examined the effectiveness of the Picture Me Playing intervention for increasing the play dialogue of preschool children with ASD during pretend play opportunities with typical peers. Picture Me Playing is a pictorially enhanced, script based intervention targeting character role play through a narrative vignette. A single-treatment counterbalanced design was utilized to contrast the performance of intervention and comparison groups, followed by within-subject analysis. Results indicated significant increases in play dialogue represented by both scripted and novel utterances. Results generalized to an unscripted play opportunity with novel toys.

A randomized pretest–posttest control group design was utilized to measure the effects of a platform swing on independent work behaviors of 30 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Participants engaged in two 5-min intervals of independent work. Between the intervals, participants in the treatment group received 5 min of vestibular stimulation using a platform swing and children in the control group watched a video. No significant differences were evidenced between the treatment and control groups on engagement, on-task behavior, stereotyped/repetitive behavior, or out-of-seat behavior. Changes noted for individual participants could not be linked to age, diagnosis, or sensory profile patterns.

A multiple-baseline design across participants was utilized to investigate the effects of a visual cueing system (VCS) on the ability of three children with Autism Spectrum Disorders to retell the events of their school day. The VCS comprised consistent pictures but text that changed to reflect each day's activities. The participants utilized the VCS in a complete form and later in a partial form to respond to the prompt, "Tell me what you did today." All 3 participants demonstrated increases in the number of events they were able to report. The skill was largely maintained through generalization and follow-up phases. Large effect sizes and positive social validity were evidenced.