The Effectiveness of a Life Skills Training Based on the Response to Intervention Model on Improving Functional Communication Skills in Children with Autism

Abstract

The purpose of this study was the effectiveness of a life skills training based on the response to intervention model on improving functional communication skills in children with autism. Participants were ten children between the ages of seven and nine who attended a school for children with developmental disabilities (Tarbya Fekrya). Each child also had the following characteristics: (a) meet the full criteria for autism according to The Scale for Screening Autism Disorder (Eissa Saad 2008) (b) functional verbal communication, (c) able to read and comprehend words, and (d) ability to follow directions. A pre- post design was used to examine the effectiveness of a life skills training based on the response to intervention model on improving functional communication skills in children with autism. Z Value result for the differences in post- test mean rank scores between experimental and control groups in functional communication. The table shows that (Z) value was (-2.121). This value is significant at the level (0.01) in the favour of experimental group. The (Z) value in table 2 was (-2.003) which is significant at the level (0.01). This indicates that use of life skills training based on the response to intervention model had a positive effect on verbal communication in children with autism.