Handheld Technology For Speech Development In Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

: During Phase I in 2012, the researchers developed a prototype of the intervention with feedback from speech language pathologists and special education practitioners.  Ten speech language providers (SLPs) each providing services to 4 students participated in the Phase I pilot study.  The team found that the prototype functioned as intended, and users reported the tool can be used to support students with speech related deficiencies. In Phase II, the team will strengthen the product's usability and accessibility, and will add new features as requested by users, including visual checklists and training materials. Once development is complete, the team will carry out a pilot study to test the usability and feasibility, the fidelity of implementation, and the promise of the tool to improve speech. The pilot study sample will include 20 SLPs working with 4 to 8 students with a diagnosis of ASD and who have prosodic deficits.  Half of the students for each SLP will be randomly assigned to use SpeechPrompts, and the other half of the other students will receive the business as usual treatment from the SLP.  The study will compare pre and post scores on both standardized and researcher generated speech-related outcome measures for both groups.