Evaluation of the iPad in the acquisition of requesting skills for children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract The iPad ® with the Proloquo2Go™ application is designed to function as a speech-generating device (SGD). This study evaluates whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can acquire requesting skills using the iPad ® with the Proloquo2Go™ application. Participants included three children with ASD between the ages of three and five. A multiple probe design across participants was used. Intervention phases were adapted and modified from the picture exchange communication system (PECS) ( Bondy & Frost, 1994; Frost & Bondy, 2002 ). Results of this study support that children diagnosed with ASD can acquire skills needed to request preferred items using the iPad ® with the Proloquo2Go™ application with training of a picture-based communication system. In addition, vocal requesting increased for the participants during the training phases in comparison to baseline probes.

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