Adel Mohamadzade; Hasan hasanzade; Mohsen Shokoohi-Yekta; sogand ghasemzadeh
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant communication challenges. Because communication skills are essential to developing other skills, it seems necessary to use early interventions to improve communication skills in children with ASD. Therefore, the aim ...
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant communication challenges. Because communication skills are essential to developing other skills, it seems necessary to use early interventions to improve communication skills in children with ASD. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to summarize current research about the effect of the Hanen parent program on the communication, interaction, and language skills of children with ASD. Accordingly, it was searched for all articles and dissertations indexed in Persian and foreign databases, in ScienceDirect, Sagepub, Eric, Wiley, Springer, Pubmed, ProQuest, Noormags, Sid, Magiran, and Irandoc in the period 1990 to 2022; using a combination of expressions including “autism spectrum disorder”, “Hanen parent program”, “communication skills” and “early intervention”. Thus, according to the eligibility criteria (Inclusion and exclusion), thirteen articles were included in this systematic review. The results of these studies showed that the Hanen parent program can lead to the natural acquisition of communication skills in children with ASD by relying on strategies in the natural environment and parent-child interaction. Therefore, it is suggested that the Hanen parent program be used as a beneficial early intervention for children with ASD. However, due to the research limitations that reduce the generalization of the results, its effectiveness requires more detailed studies.Keywords: Hanen Parent Program, Communication Skills, Early Intervention, Autism Spectrum Disorder. Extended Abstract IntroductionAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by deficits in social communication skills and restricted and repetitive behaviors in early childhood (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). One of the basic problems observed in children with ASD is a lack of social communication skills (Erbas, Özcebe and Esen, 2020). These children do not have enough communication skills to interact with others in verbal and non-verbal contexts. It should be noted that the problem of these people in communication skills may range from minimal limitation to serious damage (Mohan, Kunnath, Philip, Mohan and Thampi, 2017). The communication deficits of these children may reduce their opportunities to facilitate language development and social interactions. Parents, as the first and most important people related to a child, play an important role in promoting their language and social development (Edmunds, Kover and Stone, 2019). The communication challenges of children with ASD are related to the quantity, quality, and duration of parent-child interactions, and the greater the communication problems of a child with ASD, the less successful the parents are in the child's social upbringing. The more these communication problems are, the interactions between parent and child will be less and of lower quality, and the time will be more limited (Laurent and Gorman, 2017).Therefore, it is necessary to apply parent-mediated based early interventions for children with ASD. In recent years, more emphasis has been placed on the role of parents and their intervention training in improving the skills of children with ASD. Research results indicate the positive effect of parent-based interventions in improving the responsiveness, language, and social skills of children with ASD (Reichow, 2012; Alonso-Esteban and Alcantud-Marín, 2022; Vinen, Clark and Dissanayake, 2022). One intervention that is parent-mediated based is the Hanen more than word program (HMTW). Since HMTW is based on the child's natural environment and family system, it can increase the ability to generalize these skills in children with ASD (Akamoglu and Meadan,2018). Since it seems that the effectiveness of HMTW on the social interactions and language skills of children with ASD has not been systematically investigated, therefore the aim of the current research was the systematic review of researches that show the effectiveness of HMTW on these skills.Literature ReviewThe research findings of Garnett, Davidson & Eadie (2022) showed that HMTW can be effective and reduce time and financial costs. The parents' insight towards the interaction, learning and behavior of themselves and their children was improved. Improvements in communication, interaction responsiveness and play in ASD children were also reported. But it didn't have much effect on parents' stress. Also, Lok, Qi & To (2021) emphasized that HTMW can affect the communication skills of children with ASD whose parents have a higher sense of competence. Erbas et al showed the effect of HTMW on parents' self-efficacy, anxiety, and stress. It also affects the parent-child interaction and language performance of children with ASD.MethodologyThe current research employed a systematic review method, utilizing the PRISMA model to analyze collected data. Relevant research articles from reputable databases, including ScienceDirect, PubMed, ERIC, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, Noormags, SID, Magiran, and IranDoc, were searched using keywords such as 'autism spectrum disorder,' 'communication skills,' 'early interventions,' and 'Hanen Parent Program' for the period spanning 1990 to 2022. All relevant sources cited in these articles were also examined. Following an initial search of the research background, articles were screened based on titles and abstracts to remove duplicates and irrelevant studies. Subsequently, the full text of the remaining articles was reviewed and evaluated by two referees according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify eligible research. To mitigate the risk of bias in the studies included in this research, we utilized the quantitative studies quality assessment tool from the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP, 1998). Two evaluators assessed the studies using this tool, and the level of agreement between them was measured using the Kappa coefficient.ResultsAfter conducting investigations, we identified 390 studies, with 138 remaining after removing duplicates. Subsequently, we examined the titles and abstracts, eliminating 79 unrelated studies. This left 59 studies for full-text review. Following the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 46 studies were removed, resulting in the identification of 13 relevant studies for our analysis.Among the identified studies, 7 were experimental or quasi-experimental (53.85%), with 1 utilizing mixed methods. Additionally, there were 4 case studies (30.77%), 1 single-subject study (7.7%), and 1 longitudinal study (7.7%).The quality of the research was assessed using the Kappa coefficient, yielding a score of 0.92. Thus, 3 articles were deemed to have good quality, 5 had medium quality, and 5 had low quality. Studies receiving a low rating often had limitations in research methodology, sample size, and data collection methods, hindering generalizability to the community. These results are shown in Table 1. Overall, the effectiveness of HMTW in these studies can be categorized into quantitative (with statistical analysis) and qualitative or mixed-method research (descriptive and single-subject). It's important to note that the results of quantitative studies varied.Table 1 Results of quality assessment of studies using the EPHPPAuthors, year of publicationSelection biasStudy designConfoundersBlindingData collection methodsWithdrawals and drop-outsGlobal ratingGarnett, Davidson & Eadie (2022)1112222Lok et al (2021)3232223Erbas et al (2020)4122222Sokmum, Singh & Vandort (2017)4222222DeCarlos & Baixauli (2015)1112111Lieberman-Betz et al (2014)2221232Carter et al (2011)3323233Patterson & Smith (2011)1111121Prelock, Calhoun, Morris & Platt (2011)1111121Venker, McDuffie, Weismer & Abbeduto (2011)2211122Girolametto Sussman & Weitzman (2007)1111121McConachie, Randle, Hammal & LeCouteur (2005)3322323Sorensen (1992)1111111DiscussionThe results of this research indicate that the program is more effective than HMTW for improving the communication skills of children with ASD. However, except for Venkar et al.'s (2011) study, which showed a medium effect size, the rest reported weak effect sizes, attributed to small sample sizes and data collection methods.Active parental involvement in treatment supports the language and communication development of children with ASD (Lok et al., 2021). Conversely, Carter et al (2011) found HMTW to be more effective for children with ASD showing limited interest in objects.Children less interested in specific objects responded better to HMTW, while those more interested required additional support and different strategies. Therefore, attention should be given not only to the communication level but also to the level of interest in subjects.Furthermore, Sokmum et al (2017) concluded that parental intervention can be as effective as a therapist-led intervention. They observed minimal progress in communication skills among the control group subjected to clinical intervention compared to the experimental group undergoing HMTW.ConclusionIn general, it can be said that HMTW emphasizes the natural life and daily activities of children with ASD and considers parents' education as the main social and communication base of the child, and considering the positive results that these studies have obtained from its effectiveness, it confirms its usability and training as an early intervention - alone or in combination with other interventions. However, the effectiveness of this intervention in order to ensure its generalizability to the entire society, requires more detailed investigations and a higher sample size.
mozhgan vatankhah; saeed Bakhtiarpoor
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of the solution-focused kids' skill method on the life and communication skills of mentally retarded children. The statistical population of the research included all mentally retarded children aged 9-13 who were referred to Omid Exceptional ...
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The purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of the solution-focused kids' skill method on the life and communication skills of mentally retarded children. The statistical population of the research included all mentally retarded children aged 9-13 who were referred to Omid Exceptional School in the period of 1401-02, located in Sari city. The sample size of the study includes 30 children who were randomly selected from the statistical population using the available sampling method and were placed into two experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) groups. The experimental group was trained in eight 60-minute sessions, twice a week with the designed protocol. The instrument used is Wayland's compromising behavior scale. The results showed that in the effectiveness of this protocol, the control and experimental groups had significant differences (P>0.001) in the two components of communication skills and life skills, and covariance analysis and Welch's analysis of variance were used to achieve this difference. This indicates the effectiveness of the protocol designed for the solution-oriented child skill training method on the communication skills and life skills of mentally challenged children. It can be concluded that the child's skill training approach is effective in expanding the communication skills and lives of mentally disabled children.
Fatemeh Mashhadi gholamali; Leila Zoghi
Abstract
Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between communication skills with cognitive abilities, problem-solving, and psychological well-being and the mediating role of mindfulness in these relationships as a model for mothers of students with autism spectrum disorders. Method: For ...
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Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between communication skills with cognitive abilities, problem-solving, and psychological well-being and the mediating role of mindfulness in these relationships as a model for mothers of students with autism spectrum disorders. Method: For this purpose, applied research of descriptive-correlation type with structural equation design was conducted. The study population consisted of 571 mothers whose children with autism spectrum disorders were studying in special schools for autism (11 schools) and schools for autism spectrum disorders (5 schools) in Tehran and were responsible for the birth and maintenance of their children. Among the above schools, 7 schools were selected by random cluster sampling method and the mothers of all students with autism spectrum disorders in these schools, whose number was 230, were considered as a sample group and were given the Cognitive Abilities Questionnaire of Nejati (1392), problem-solving style of Cassidy & Lang (1996), psychological wellbeing of Ryff (1989), communication skills of Queen Dam (2004), and mindfulness of Brown & Ryan (2003). Results: The results of data analysis using the structural equation statistical method showed that the research model has a good fit. In addition, communication skills, both directly and indirectly through mindfulness, have a positive and significant relationship with the cognitive abilities, problem-solving, and psychological wellbeing of mothers of students with autism spectrum disorders (P <0.05).
Seyyedeh Somayyeh Jalil-Abkenar; Gholam Ali Afrooz; Ali Akbar Arjmandnia; Bagher Ghobari-Bonab
Abstract
Intellectual disability affects all aspect of individual's life, while applying leisure time program has been associated with effective outcomes. Present study was aimed to determine the effectiveness of Arsh leisure time program on the working memory, cognitive capacity and communication skills of children ...
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Intellectual disability affects all aspect of individual's life, while applying leisure time program has been associated with effective outcomes. Present study was aimed to determine the effectiveness of Arsh leisure time program on the working memory, cognitive capacity and communication skills of children with intellectual disability. The present research was a semi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test design and control group. The participants were 30 girl children with intellectual disability from exceptional schools in Isfahan city using randomly method. Subjects were divided into experimental and control groups, each group consisting of 15 children. The experimental group received 16 sessions of Arsh leisure time program and the control group did not. The instruments were working memory test battery for children (2017), Wechsler intelligence scale for children (2003) and communication skills questionnaire (1990). Data were analyzed by MANCOVA. The results showed that Arsh leisure time program had a significant effect on the working memory, cognitive capacity and communication skills of subjects (P<0.0001). Arsh leisure time program improved working memory, cognitive capacity and communication skills of children with intellectual disability. So planning leisure time program for these children have specific importance.
leila farisabadi; masoomeh khosravi; parviz sabahi
Abstract
: The aim of this research was to study the effectiveness of interpersonal communication skills and social problem solving training on social adjustment and academic achievement of mentally retarded female students of elementary schools in the city of Qom. Method: The method of the research was a quasi-experimental ...
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: The aim of this research was to study the effectiveness of interpersonal communication skills and social problem solving training on social adjustment and academic achievement of mentally retarded female students of elementary schools in the city of Qom. Method: The method of the research was a quasi-experimental one based on the pre-post-Follow tests with a control group. The method for collecting data wasrandom sampling. In order to select samples, at first 2 schools from the special schools were randomly selected, then 30 students who had necessary criteria, were put in control and experimental groups. The tools used in this research were Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV, Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY), Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Revised), and UNISEF program for communication skills and social problem solving training. In order to analyze data, multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures was used. Results: The results showed significant differences on social adjustment (F=8.46, p<0.05) and academic achievement between the experimental and the control groups (F=13.48, p<0.05). Teaching these skills reduced inappropriate behaviors of educable mentally retarded students and increased their social adjustment in all subscales of Social Adjustment Scale Vineland (communication skills and social skills), it also improved their academic performance. Conclusion: The findings showed considerable impact of improving life skills. Communication skills training and social problem solving can be helpful in improving students’ social adjustment and their academic achievement.