ERIC Number: EJ1489041
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Oct
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-8855
EISSN: EISSN-1938-3703
Available Date: 2025-10-10
Development and Evaluation of a Simultaneous Bilingual Communication Intervention Protocol for Autistic Children
River A. Waits1; Shawn P. Gilroy1
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, v58 n4 p717-730 2025
This study explored bilingual approaches to establishing communication repertoires for culturally and linguistically diverse nonverbal autistic children. We explored concurrent English and Spanish mand instruction across language-specific contexts (i.e., blocked vs. shuffled language trials). Participants first received communication intervention in a blocked context (e.g., first half in English), followed by communication intervention in a mixed-language context (i.e., shuffled trials). Mixed-language probes were incorporated throughout the evaluations to detect the emergence of conditional discriminations specific to the present linguistic context (i.e., therapist language). Participants established linguistic discrimination for topographically distinct forms of functional communication with minimal formal language discrimination instruction. These findings suggest that a communication intervention including elements of bilingualism can be effective for both establishing functional communication and discriminating the contexts in which certain responses are likely to be reinforced (i.e., linguistic discrimination).
Descriptors: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Children, Bilingualism, English, Spanish, Verbal Communication, Context Effect, Intervention
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

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