Parent-Child Interaction, Scaffolding, and Private Speech Among Children with ADHD or High Functioning Autism
Date
2013-02-18
Authors
LaRocque, Rebekah
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Abstract
Children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty self-regulating cognition and behavior, revealing an underlying executive functioning problem. These deficits may disappear when children with ASD use private speech. The goal of this study was to examine the role of parent-child interaction in the private speech use and executive functioning of children with high-functioning ASD. Eighty-two children (18 females) aged 7 to 18 diagnosed with high functioning ASD (n = 33) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; n = 21), and matched controls (n = 28) completed the Tower of Hanoi task, first with the assistance of their parent, and then, again, individually. Child private speech use and performance were assessed during the dyad and individual sessions. The overall quality of parental scaffolding was rated. Results suggested that parents of ASD children engaged in lower quality scaffolding than controls. Child individual executive performance for all groups improves when parents talk less and children talk more in the dyad. ASD children were less likely than controls to use private speech (or any speech during the dyad), but when they did, it was similar to the other groups. The findings indicate that child speech should be encouraged during joint activities because it improves their performance later on when completing the task alone. Interventions could focus on using private speech as a tool with other techniques to improve executive functioning skills of children with high-functioning autism.
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Keywords
Parent-child interaction, ADHD, Scaffolding, High-functioning autism, Private speech