Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research Group
Teaching Nonverbal Children With Autism Useful Speech: A Comparison Of Two Models
Project Abstract
This project was started by Dr. Sally Rogers and colleagues in 2000 and has since enrolled 28 children in the study. During the study, c hildren were provided with six months of speech/language therapy, either one or two hours per week, at no cost, in one of two different therapy approaches: the Denver Model or the PROMPT approach. Children were assigned by the investigators to one or the other treatment. Therapy was provided by a credentialed and experienced speech and language pathologist and a parent was present.
Both treatment approaches require one session per week, and each therapy session last for one hour. The therapist works with both the parent and the child during these sessions. Parents are given specific assignments to carry out with their child between sessions. Parents are required to keep records of these daily exercises at home. The parents, child, and therapist were videotaped during weekly treatment sessions to assure that the treatment procedures are being followed, as well as to record the child’s progress.
The PROMPT treatment was developed for persons with motor speech problems. It has been used before with children with autism with success, but it has not been tested in a study before. As the child vocalizes in play, the therapist physically moves the child’s mouth, jaw, and head in ways that facilitate speech production. These procedures are not uncomfortable and have been shown to help speech production almost immediately.
The Denver Model treatment was developed for young children with autism. It has been used for almost 20 years and there are several published papers demonstrating that children who receive this treatment in daily preschool sessions show improved speech and language. In the Denver Model approach, the therapist teaches the child a set of skills, including imitating other people’s movements, responding to speech, learning names of common objects, and learning nonverbal communicative gestures to request favorite activities, toys, and snacks. The child receives various rewards for learning. These procedures are generally pleasant for children.
Main Goals
- Observe the rate of progress that children make in one of the two interventions.
- Attempt to determine whether or not one of the procedures has a more likely chance of improving useful speech in young children with autism and other developmental disorders
- Examine the effectiveness of each approach based on individual differences in the children who participate in the study.
Funding Source
This project was funded by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, Grant # MH 01-010, 2001-2004, and the Coleman Gift Fund.
Contact Person
* Please note that project is not currently enrolling participants. If you would like more information about the project, please contact:
Galit Mankin, M.S.W.
Galit.Mankin@UCHSC.edu
(303) 315-1253 (phone)
(303) 315-2956 (fax)
4200 E. Ninth Ave, C268-30
Denver, CO 80262
Project Staff
Susan Hepburn, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Sally Rogers, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, The M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California at Davis
Terry Hall, M.A., CCC-SLP, Clinician
Renee Charlifue-Smith, M.A., CCC-SLP, Clinician
Deborah Hayden, M.A., CCC-SLP, The Prompt Institute
