Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Autistic children--Language; Sign language;
Abstract
Fast-mapping is the process of storing information in memory about a newly encountered lexical item after only one or very few encounters with the word. Best (1986) investigated the fast-mapping abilities of autistic, mentally retarded, and normal adolescents. The results revealed that fast-mapping occurs in the autistic population. It was unknown, however, whether the presence of a visual sign stimulus would assist autistic individuals in the fast-mapping process. The purpose of the present research was to study the effects of sign stimuli on the word learning abilities of autistic children. Two autistic subjects between the ages of 11 and 12 were exposed to novel objects and actions. Following exposure to these stimuli, the subject was asked to manipulate the objects or perform the actions. Performance here determined whether the client comprehended the novel word. The subject was asked to label the object or action in order to determine whether the subject could produce the label. Finally, the subject was asked to select the correct label from a phonetically similar and a phonetically dissimilar label. This selection determined whether the child could recognize the word. The results of the study indicated that the presence or absence of visual sign stimuli had no significant impact on either subject's ability to fast-map information or recall that information at a later point in time.
Year of Submission
1989
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Communicative Disorders
First Advisor
Clifford L. Highnam
Second Advisor
Karen E. Pollock
Third Advisor
Donna Raschke
Date Original
1989
Object Description
1 PDF file (51 leaves)
Copyright
©1989 Maria Trese Cashman
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Cashman, Maria Trese, "The Effects of Sign Language Upon the Fast-Mapping Abilities of Autistic Children" (1989). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2307.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2307
Comments
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