Association for Behavior Analysis International

Little research has been done with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Indeed researchers and practioner's have only recently began to identify participants and cases with their ethnicity and few have taken diversity into account when designing and delivering treatment. Yet recent research has found that inclusion of variables or a child’s culture or heritage language may be advantageous in their treatment (e.g. Lim & Charlop, 2018). The present symposium focuses on four studies that include CLD children with ASD and also choose CLD variables when designing and implementing treatment. In Study 1, CLD children with ASD are taught a labeling task through an echoic procedure that uses both English and Heritage language. In Study 2, CLD children with ASD participate in a parent implemented comparison study of an imitation protocol in both English and Heritage languages. In Study 3, CLD children with ASD are taught to verbally initiate play bids to their CLD peers and to their siblings, and finally, in Study 4, CLD children with ASD are assessed to determine their preference for English or Heritage language. The symposium is wrapped up by the Discussant who relates the current findings of these studies to the treatment of CLD children with ASD and the direction the field is going.

practitioners and researchers

Few studies have examined how the use of heritage language impacts receptive language skills of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; Charlop & Lim, 2016; Lang et al., 2011). Charlop’s (1983) echo procedure is one method by which receptive language skills have been taught to echolalic CLD children in both English and heritage language (Leung & Wu,1997). Toward this end, incorporating both echolalia and heritage language in treatment may provide a natural and contextually relevant strategy to address receptive language skills of echolalic CLD children with ASD. Therefore, using Charlop’s (1983) echo prompting procedure, the present study used a multi-elemental design to assess the differential effects of language (English versus heritage language) on receptive labeling performance of four echolalic CLD children with ASD. Following baseline measurement of receptive labeling skills involving known and unknown items, Charlop’s (1983) echo prompting procedure was implemented in both English and heritage language. Preliminary results suggest that receptive labeling performance increased during treatment in both language conditions. Findings may yield implications for future language interventions for echolalic CLD children with ASD.

Little research has been done with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in their heritage language. Practioners and parents fear that exposing a child with ASD to more than one language will cause further delays in language development and other core deficit areas (Kremer-Sadlik, 2005). Yet recent research has found that exposure to and the use of heritage languages can be advantageous (Lim & Charlop, 2018). However, research has yet to explore how exposure to both one’s heritage language and English can impact a child with ASD’s language abilities and verbal behavior. The present study used a multiple baseline design across four parent-child dyads to assess language acquisition using the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP; Laski, Charlop & Schreibman, 1987; Spector & Charlop, 2018). Following free-play baseline sessions, four caregivers were taught to implement NLP in both their heritage language (i.e., Spanish, Korean) and English. To control for treatment effects, NLP was counter-balanced across the four dyads. Upon the implementation of NLP, regardless of language condition, each child’s appropriate verbalizations increased during NLP treatment sessions and in free-play probe sessions. Findings from the current study may yield implications for language interventions for CLD children with ASD.

Ethnicity of participants’ is an important variable when designing interventions in evidence based research (Fannin, 2017). Specifically, when including culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in research it is important to consider community values, practices, and culture. For example, a strong familial unit, especially in terms of sibling relationships, is an important value held by both Hispanic (Updegraff, McHale, Whiteman, Thayer & Delgado, 2005) and Asian cultures (Ho, 1994). In the current study, social verbal initiations were taught to six CLD children and adolescents with ASD (67% Korean-American and 33% Mexican-American). In baseline, all six children did not consistently verbally initiate to their siblings and peers of mixed ethnicities. During intervention, using a verbal social initiation program, all of the children learned quickly to initiate. Five of the six children also generalized the skill to a new setting and across play partners. Maintenance of this skill was also seen at 6-months. Future research can expand on this study by also teaching the initiation in the child’s heritage language.

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with ASD who have been exposed to more than one language do not experience any additional language delays compared to their monolingual peers (Hambly and Fombonne, 2011). In addition, research has not noted any indication of negative outcomes associated with language abilities among bilingual/multilingual children with ASD (Drysdale et al., 2015). The majority of the research surrounding bilingual or multilingual individuals diagnosed with autism or other developmental disabilities has focused on conducting communication assessments to assess participants’ psychometric performance. Research related to language preferences exhibited by these individuals is scarce. The purpose of the current study was to assess language preference among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or other developmental disorders who have been exposed to more than one language. The research study consisted of two parts: Study 1 evaluated language preference during play contexts and Study 2 evaluated language preference and compliance with instructions within instructional contexts.