Acquiring Answering Skills to WH-Questions in a Child with Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder;

An Intervention Using "Who," "What," "What Is It Doing," and "Where" Questions

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of intervention when it comes to facilitating the acquisition of interrogative response skills in a child with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder who was in the sixth grade of a prefectural special needs school. The four interrogatives targeted included "who," "what," "what is it doing," and "where." The intervention was divided into four stages: a stage to confirm that the participant understood the persons, objects, actions and places used in the practice (preliminary intervention); a stage to teach the participant to distinguish between the elements of the photo cards of persons, objects, actions, and places (Stage I); a stage to teach the participant to respond to interrogatives using the photo cards (Stage II); and a stage to teach the participant to respond to interrogatives using videos (Stage III). At the beginning of the intervention, the correct response rate for interrogatives was around 30% to 50%, but eventually rose to approximately 90%, and the intervention produced certain results. The effectiveness of the gradual intervention and using videos was discussed in relation to the results of the intervention.