UC Santa Barbara

Conversational skills are a part of every day life, however, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder demonstrate extensive difficulties engaging in these skills (Koegel & Koegel, 2006; Marans, Rubin, & Laurent, 2005). One intervention approach that has demonstrated effectiveness in improving conversational skills is self-management (Boettcher, 2004; Doggett, Krasno, Koegel & Koegel, 2013). To date, little is known in the literature about the effectiveness of self-management with children with ASD from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. As such, this study used a multiple baseline design across participants to assess the effects of parent-implemented self- management on the conversational skills of Spanish-speaking children with ASD. Specifically the study aimed to investigate whether parent-implemented self-management would improve the ability of children with ASD to ask on-topic questions during conversations in their native language. Results documented an increased rate in contingent on-topic question asking during conversations for all three children, as well as, collateral gains in self-initiations. Each participating parent also increased the number of conversational opportunities they provided to their children during conversations in their native language. Finally, gains were maintained over a 1-month follow-up.