Research Symposium

BIO

I am Kyra Freeman, a freshman at Florida State University. I am studying Cell and Molecular Neuroscience on a pre-med track. I am very interested doing research that involves children with special needs. I am also interested in studying dementia and other cognitive disorders. I am from Tampa, Florida and have lived their my whole life. In my free time I enjoy dancing and going outside!

Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Language and Learning (RECALL) Paired with Play

Abstract

This research study applies Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Learning and Language (RECALL) paired with play in order to gauge improvements on target vocabulary and retention rates. The children in the study will range in ages 3-5 and be separated into dyads. In this study, researchers will use RECALL paired with toys and playtime to see if the intervention aids children in learning these target words while playing with the toys. Previous research has been conducted with just the RECALL element where only shared intervention reading occurred in order to see if the children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) would learn the target vocabulary and baseline studies did show improvement in the children with ASD (Whalon et al., 2015). Therefore, the hope with adding the play element to the RECALL is to see target vocabulary utilized in appropriate play contexts. There are eight children - four with ASD, and four typically developing children - and they will be reading a series of books that highlight seven target words. After reading, both at baseline and with the intervention, they will play with corresponding toys and will be observed to see if target vocabulary is used in the appropriate context. While research has not been completed, researchers expect to see that children with ASD will learn these target words through their interaction with the words in the books and during playtime.

Keywords: Reading, Language, Autism