[[alternative]]A Study on the Effect of Functional Communication Training to Promote Communication in Non-verbal Autistic Children

[[abstract]]The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of functional communication training to promote communication and reduce problem behavior in non-verbal autistic children. Subjects were two autistic children , one with bizarre speech and the other with hand biting behavior. Researcher used the A-B-B* design to examine the effects. The research implemented functional assessment to find out the functions of problem behaviors. After that, the author chose a communication behavior with the same function of the problem behavior to intervene. After subjects had learned the new way to communicate, the author stopped teaching and recorded the effects of the training in natural settings. The result indicated that the functional communication training can promote communication in two subjects in the study, and the positive effects could generalize to the natural settings. It also indicated that the effect to reduce problem behaviors was not as good as expected. Implications for practice and further research are recommended on the basis of these results.