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etadd_47(3) - Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities

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(average of 1.9 minutes during teacherdirected<br />

CTD c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> 2.5 minutes during<br />

computer-assisted CTD c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>). This is<br />

due to the structured pace of the PowerPoint<br />

presentati<strong>on</strong>s compared to the researcher being<br />

able to eliminate pauses up<strong>on</strong> correct student<br />

resp<strong>on</strong>ding or pauses between the end<br />

of <strong>on</strong>e trial (word) <strong>and</strong> the next trial in the<br />

teacher-directed c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>. Additi<strong>on</strong>ally, the<br />

PowerPoint presentati<strong>on</strong>s took more time to<br />

prepare than the flashcards. However, <strong>on</strong>ce<br />

slides for a word were created in PowerPoint, it<br />

was easy for the researcher to copy <strong>and</strong> paste<br />

them into new presentati<strong>on</strong>s. For teachers,<br />

<strong>on</strong>ce a PowerPoint presentati<strong>on</strong> is created, it<br />

can be used for multiple students from year to<br />

year for the time investment to have a larger<br />

payoff. The bigger time factor was direct<br />

teacher instructi<strong>on</strong>al time. During computerassisted<br />

CTD, the teacher did not have to<br />

instruct each student individually. The Power-<br />

Point presentati<strong>on</strong>s were used to instruct multiple<br />

students in a <strong>on</strong>e-<strong>on</strong>-<strong>on</strong>e format without<br />

direct teacher <strong>on</strong>e-<strong>on</strong>-<strong>on</strong>e instructi<strong>on</strong>. Thus,<br />

average teacher time during computer-assisted<br />

CTD instructi<strong>on</strong> was 0 minutes as compared<br />

to 1.9 minutes multiplied by 3 students<br />

for an average of 5.7 minutes each day for<br />

teacher-directed CTD.<br />

Limitati<strong>on</strong>s<br />

There are several limitati<strong>on</strong>s of this study. The<br />

first limitati<strong>on</strong> is the lack of ability to generalize<br />

findings given the small number of participants<br />

<strong>and</strong> absence of female participants. A<br />

sec<strong>on</strong>d limitati<strong>on</strong> stemmed from difficulties<br />

associated with technology. Sessi<strong>on</strong>s occurred<br />

while other students were engaged in other<br />

activities. Jake was easily distracted by activities<br />

occurring in the classroom while working <strong>on</strong><br />

the computer. The time required to make the<br />

PowerPoint presentati<strong>on</strong>s was also a factor.<br />

Slides were created by an interning teacher.<br />

He reported that slides initially were timec<strong>on</strong>suming<br />

but required less time to complete<br />

after his proficiency with PowerPoint software<br />

increased. A final limitati<strong>on</strong> was student absences<br />

during the study, which could have<br />

possibly affected word acquisiti<strong>on</strong>. During the<br />

study, Jake received two days of out of school<br />

suspensi<strong>on</strong> between the collecti<strong>on</strong> of baseline<br />

data <strong>and</strong> the implementati<strong>on</strong> of the interven-<br />

ti<strong>on</strong> procedures. Joe also was absent quite frequently<br />

throughout the interventi<strong>on</strong> procedures.<br />

Kyle’s participati<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> motivati<strong>on</strong><br />

were affected due to his behavior during other<br />

classroom activities.<br />

Future Research<br />

Further research is needed to verify the results<br />

of this study <strong>and</strong> to examine a larger number<br />

of participants, especially females <strong>and</strong> students<br />

with a variety of ability levels. Future<br />

research should focus <strong>on</strong> words that can be<br />

applied in a larger variety of activities to increase<br />

the utility of computer-assisted CTD in<br />

a variety of c<strong>on</strong>texts. Future studies could include<br />

the use of computer-assisted CTD to<br />

teach chained tasks or to learn other functi<strong>on</strong>al<br />

academic skills such as m<strong>on</strong>ey recogniti<strong>on</strong>,<br />

community survival words, etc. In additi<strong>on</strong>,<br />

further studies should be c<strong>on</strong>ducted<br />

comparing the effectiveness of teacher-directed<br />

CTD <strong>and</strong> computer-assisted CTD to<br />

delineate which c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong> is most appropriate<br />

for students with autism.<br />

C<strong>on</strong>clusi<strong>on</strong><br />

This study extended current research by using<br />

individually-presented PowerPoint’s with embedded<br />

c<strong>on</strong>stant time delay for the instructi<strong>on</strong><br />

of recipe words for students with moderate<br />

intellectual disability. Previous research has<br />

dem<strong>on</strong>strated computer-assisted CTD to be an<br />

effective strategy for teaching multiplicati<strong>on</strong><br />

facts (Wils<strong>on</strong>, Majsterek, & Simm<strong>on</strong>s, 1996),<br />

Dolch words (Yaw et al., 2011) or grocery<br />

words presented <strong>on</strong> a SMART Board to a small<br />

group of students (Mechling et al., 2007). Additi<strong>on</strong>ally,<br />

this study is unique in that it compared<br />

computer-assisted <strong>and</strong> teacher-assisted<br />

c<strong>on</strong>stant time delay. Finally, this study extends<br />

the literature by dem<strong>on</strong>strating generalizati<strong>on</strong><br />

of recipe words taught through a combinati<strong>on</strong><br />

of c<strong>on</strong>stant time delay strategies to the task of<br />

food preparati<strong>on</strong>.<br />

This study presents many possibilities for<br />

effective teaching strategies in a classroom setting.<br />

Although the teacher-directed CTD c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong><br />

was more efficient, results indicated<br />

that both teacher-directed CTD <strong>and</strong> computer-assisted<br />

CTD strategies can be used to teach<br />

sight words effectively. This supports Cole-<br />

290 / Educati<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> Training in <strong>Autism</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Developmental</strong> <strong>Disabilities</strong>-September 2012

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