The Effects of Behavioural Approaches to Language Teaching for Autistic Children

Abstract

The use of behavioural techniques in the treatment of language disorders has grown steadily over the past two decades. This paper reviews the range of children, problems and techniques involved in such studies and assesses the overall effectiveness of behavioural interventions. Although clearly a valuable aid to therapy, the effects are not necessarily as impressive as often claimed. Thus, children's inherent disabilities would seem to limit the effectiveness of treatment. Better controlled studies are still required in order to investigate further the value of these techniques for individual children and for particular types of language disability.