The Success of an Aided Language Stimulation Training Video for Communication Partners Working with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Aided language stimulation (ALS) is an effective intervention method for nonverbal children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) learning to use an augmentative-alternative communication system to communicate with others. Communication partners can use ALS to stimulate the use of the augmentative alternative communication (AAC) system. The purpose of this paper is to develop a research study that will be completed in the future to determine the success of an ALS training video. The intended participants of the study include 30 special education teachers who work with children with ASD who use Proloquo2go formatted AAC systems. The participants of the study will be randomly divided into a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group will watch the ALS training video and be instructed to use ALS to promote the use of the AAC system in the therapy session. The results of the study will be gathered and analyzed by comparing the average use of ALS by the experimental group to the control group. The researcher hypothesizes that the ALS training video will be an effective method to instruct special education teachers and aides on ALS for student with ASD