Date of Award
8-2019
Document Type
Campus Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Counseling
First Advisor
Melissa Pearrow
Second Advisor
Lindsay Fallon
Third Advisor
Abbey Eisenhower
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) affect 1 in 59 children (CDC, 2018). With significant deficits in social communication and interaction, which impact well-being and academic performance (Meier, DiPerna, & Oster, 2006), research related to direct instruction and intervention is essential for these children, their families, and the professionals who aim to support their goals. The present study utilized a novel, game-based direct instruction program incorporating the skill of interpreting hand gestures for middle school students with high functioning ASD. The intervention led to improvements including decreases of parent and teacher ratings of participants’ social communication, social awareness and social cognition, and suggests the impact and importance of student usability in increasing the utility of this intervention.
Recommended Citation
Broadhead, Samantha R., "The Effects of a Hand Gesture Instruction Game on Social Skills of Students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder" (2019). Graduate Doctoral Dissertations. 503.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/doctoral_dissertations/503
Comments
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