3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The effectiveness of computer and video modelled social stories on the non-verbal social skills of children with Asperger's Syndrome.(2013-08-06) Propheta, LitalBackground: Children with Asperger’s Syndrome have deficits in daily social communication and pragmatic skills of varying degrees. A lack of appropriate use of eye contact during communication is a well-described marker of the social-pragmatic deficit that is characteristic of children with Asperger’s Syndrome. This study investigated the effectiveness of a combined therapy approach including social stories, video-modelling and computers to address the impaired eye contact. Method: Five participants, between the ages of 6-12 years, with a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome took part. A multiple single subject ABAB design was applied for the purpose of this study. Results: There was an overall improvement in eye contact across all five participants. Other pragmatic behaviours were also positively affected. Conclusions: A combined type of intervention may be used effectively to improve the non-verbal social skills, specifically eye contact, in children with Asperger’s Syndrome. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.Item Caregivers' experiences of service provision for their children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder(2010-06-28T10:39:15Z) Hooper, Jennifer JaneAn increase in the prevalence of ASD has led to increased demands on service provision. This questionnaire-based, descriptive study aimed to explore service use and experiences of health and education service delivery by caregivers and their children with ASD in Johannesburg. The sample size was 39. Comparisons were drawn between the experiences of the participants accessing the private and public service sectors. Children were diagnosed at an average age of 4 years; 2 years after the first symptoms were noted by their caregivers. Families accessed a mean of 3 institutions and 6 professionals in seeking diagnosis and treatment. No specific referral patterns could be established. Challenges to service access identified by caregivers included: logistical problems, lack of professional knowledge and experience, poor parental coping and insight, and lack of community support. Solutions identified by the caregivers included: marketing, training, better referral procedures, and establishment of educational facilities.Item The underlying basis of the communication difficulties of high functioning pervasive developmental disorder(2008-10-22T08:46:12Z) Ridley, Gillian MaryThis study aimed to explore the underlying basis of the communication difficulties in children (between 5.0 and 7.11 years) with high functioning pervasive developmental disorder (HFPDD) (n=26), compared to children with specific language impairment (SLI) (n=26), and children with no history of developmental difficulty (NDD) (n=26). The study looked at: whether different profiles could be obtained for the groups on comprehensive batteries of communication, cognitive processing and theory of mind; which areas measured were best correlated; and which measures best differentiated the groups. Comprehensive communication and theory of mind batteries were devised and conducted. Cognitive processing was measured using the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) (Naglieri and Das, 1997). Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, the Kruskal-Wallis test, Bonferroni t tests, frequency distributions, Pearson correlation coefficients and discriminant function analyses. Kappa coefficients and analysis of variance measures were carried out on 23% of the rated data in order to establish inter-rater agreement and acceptable levels of agreement were reached. On the communication assessment, the HFPDD group experienced the most difficulty on the measures of understanding abstract vocabulary, understanding conversation, pronoun alternation, higher level semantics, narrative ability and pragmatic ability. In contrast, the SLI group experienced the most difficulty on the measures of expressive grammar and narrative clarity. On the cognitive processing assessment, the HFPDD group experienced marked difficulty in the areas of planning and attention, while the SLI group experienced significant difficulty in the areas of successive processing and less marked but still significant difficulty in the area of planning. Within the HFPDD group, a group with simultaneous processing markedly stronger than successive processing, a group with successive processing markedly stronger than simultaneous processing, and a group with simultaneous and successive processing occurring at a similar level, were identified. The HFPDD group experienced significant difficulty on all the measures of theory of mind, although a limited number of HFPDD subjects did not experience difficulty. The SLI group experienced significant difficulty on the two theory of mind measures that were more verbally loaded. Strong correlations were found between receptive language, expressive semantics, narrative ability, pragmatic ability, planning, attention and theory of mind; and between expressive grammar and successive processing. Pragmatic ability, narrative ability, planning, and certain of the theory of mind measures best appeared to discriminate the groups. A combined model of language, cognitive and theory of mind processing is proposed to explain the differences between the HFPDD and SLI groups.