Describe chosen area of research and provide rationale for choice.

Literature Review Draft

Preparation

In addition to the other helpful links provided in Resources, we recommend you use an organizing tool from the Capella University Library Services and Tools page, such as the Scholarly Research Log, to help you track the theories, methods, and findings of the articles you have read.

Note: Be sure to post your draft of the literature review in the Unit 4 discussion and incorporate feedback from your instructor and peers before submitting this assignment.

For this assignment, submit the current draft of your literature review for instructor feedback and grading. Using your literature search question (LSQ), the annotated bibliography, and the abstracted outline to support your review, identify themes that emerge from your analysis of what we know so far about your topic. Use these themes to describe how your research builds on prior knowledge.

For instance, if your LSQ is What does the literature in psychology tell us about the utility of treating mild depression in adults with a combination of synchronous and asynchronous labyrinth walking and cognitive behavioral therapy? you might discuss literature that covers the themes of exercise and depression, cognitive behavioral therapy and depression, walking meditation and depression, mindfulness and depression, and so on. Do not organize the paper by referencing each article sequentially; your task is to synthesize concepts pertinent to the LSQ from the articles selected for this review.

Plan to identify articles and research that:

o Describe chosen area of research and provide rationale for choice.

o Describe significance of chosen topic:

§ Explain and justify the implications of the new knowledge for stakeholders, including community members and those who serve the population.

o Summarize sources applicable to the history of chosen topic:

Discuss historical context and dominant themes in the evolution of the topic; connect common themes and present counter-opinions.

o Summarize sources applicable to the theoretical background of the chosen topic:

Provide information about theoretical underpinnings such as empirical/behavioral or constructivist and humanistic orientations of the literature reviewed.

Consider theory in light of seminal works by theorists such as Urie Bronfenbrenner, Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, Carol Gilligan, Jean Piaget, Erving Goffman, and Clark Moustakas.

o Summarize sources applicable to best practices for engaging in research:

Describe data collection strategies, research procedures, and approaches for conducting and reporting research.

o Summarize sources that add significance and relevance to the knowledge base of psychology:

Indicate how the chosen sources help investigators identify topics that are well understood and other topics that represent gaps in the knowledge base and the need for further study.

Create a scenario that illustrates the need for new research.

o Articulate guidelines of the profession applicable to ethical conduct in research practice:

Demonstrate ethical conduct associated with the protection of research subject vulnerabilities such as the need for data privacy.

o Identify practices and research guidelines that address respect for individual differences and diversity:

Address individual variation and diversity within and across groups. For example, when writing about marriage and family therapy, acknowledge research choices that exclude or include subgroups such as gay and lesbian families or families of particular racial, ethnic, or cultural compositions.

o Adhere to APA style and formatting guidelines, including concise and well-organized writing:

Organization of paper enhances the message and supporting points; writing reflects the quality and expertise expected for academic work.

Organizes and summarizes sources thematically.

Your task is to present current considerations important to investigators and to indicate ramifications for stakeholders who rely on the current knowledge base.

Use illustrative examples to explain and highlight key concepts. Good reviewers share evidence-based assessments of the current state of knowledge with their audiences.

This assignment is one component of the integrated project. It is expected that you will refine this literature review before submitting the final project.

Instructions

Format your assignment as follows:

o Table of contents.

o Title page.

o Chapter headings (should start on new page).

o Subheadings.

Additional Requirements

o Font: New Times Roman, 12 point, double spaced.

o APA: Use APA format and style throughout, including citations.

Autism spectrum disorder in Toddlers

Name of student

Institution Affiliation

Literature review

After conducting an investigation on the connection of social skills, adaptability limitations, emotional and behavioural challenges among school children (Pack, C.J, et al., 2012) came to the conclusion that, kids diagnosed with autism had challenges related to daily social skills and behavioural complications. He proposed that physical conversation abilities are mostly related to practical and developmental effects rather than basic communication skills. However, according to a study by (Tager-Flusberg, et al., 2010) and (Ellawadi, A.B, et al., 2015), from their investigation on socialisation abilities of autistic toddlers and the variances in variables assumed to affect communication advancements at various ideal stages. They organised the toddler’s based on verbal communication standards to survey the variances on the chosen variables through the standardisation groupings. From the investigation they found that verbal communication standards are essential in describing premature communication outlines as well as determining factors that affect effective language development.

Besides, (Ellis Weimer, et al., 2010) described premature socialisation abilities among children suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, n=257) by use of multiple communication advancement measures, in comparison to children with non-spectrum Developmental Delay (DD, N=69. Results of ASD presented substantial variance in the outline of receptive-sensitive communication skills for autism children in comparison to the development delay (DD). Children with autism had moderately more serious receptive verbal delays than expressive. These results contradict those of (Ventola, P, et al., 2007) in their study. Ventola related the conduct of children suffering from autism spectrum disorder to general developmental delay. They came to the conclusion that the two categories of children shared a variety of related characteristics but still there were specific behavioural change that distinguished the two categories of children’s.

Another study by (Drew, A, et al 2007) through the means of Social Communication Assessment for Toddlers with Autism (SCATA) which measured communication skills on the two groups of children found to be suffering from the autism spectrum disorder came to the conclusion that the regularity and persistence of verbal acts of communications during childhood determined their communication abilities in the future. Socialisation acts provided a more prediction to association than replies and appeals.

Problem statement

Complains by parents about their growing children especially of age 4-12 years having a challenge on social skills with people have increased to an extent we cannot ignore. In order to help alleviate the problem we developed a psychology research literature on how these parents can be trained on non-verbal methods of communication like Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS) in order to help understand their communication challenged children to minimise on their emotional distresses as well as evaluate previous research as discussed on the above review.

Abstracted outline

Toddlers alleged to be suffering from autism has defects when trying to communicate. Ability to converse with other people is critical in the surrounding since it is the only way we can manage to air our views and opinions and desires. Children with this disorder will thus be unable to communicate their basic wants and desires to parents, making them have a really hard time (Premanand, V, et al 2014). It is the responsibility of every parent to train their toddlers how to communicate inside the family setting and to the outside environments. They can achieve this by use of communication methods like Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) which is the most popular. In this study we will focus on how non-verbal trainings can be implemented in training children diagnosed with autism to reduce emotional hard time on parents. The review is organised in subheadings as follows:

Children with autism disorder

On this sub topic we are going to discuss the history of the autism spectrum disorder in children. Have a review from previous research and try to suggest options of solving the disorder to reduce hard time experienced by parents due to miscommunication with the kids.

Autism spectrum disorder is a disease that affects people of all ages but on this study we shall discuss on its effect on young children. It is characterised with lack of effective verbal socialisation skills. Previous research by (Park C.J, et al., 2012) shows that cases of young children being diagnosed have become very common worldwide. The symptoms of the disease vary where it’s severe in some children than in others (Baird, G, et al., 2016). The disorder has been in existence from many past years, and treatment has remained to be a difficult task. As a result many parents have been experiencing emotional distresses due to misunderstanding of their children wants (Flippin, M, et al., 2010). On this study we shall discuss on the Picture Exchange Communication System in a bid to improve parent-child interactions.

Parental emotional distresses

The main idea of this subheading is to evaluate the emotional distresses experienced by parents of the autistic kids and trying to suggest communication alternatives to strengthen the parent-child association.

Stress refers to response to a certain situation, which demands more attention than the resources available thus being a threat to personal happiness (Park, C. J, 2012). According to this context increasing stress levels are observed on parents with older autistic toddlers. Relationship among autistic toddlers conduct and parental stress was evaluated in guardians of 54 kids suffering from autism spectrum disorder (age=2-3 years). The parentages testified increased parentage stresses. Delays in toddler’s social interaction were related to the whole parental stresses (Krakovich, T. M, et al., 2016). The toddler autism spectrum disorder seriousness contributed a lot in determination of the parentage stress in relation to the toddler’s verbal intelligent quotient. However, it was noted that application of the PECS method of communication can help promote the communication between parent and child.

Use of PECS as an alternative way of communication to autistic children

On this subheading we shall discuss the history of Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) as an alternative method of communication, its benefits and demerits as well as get an idea of how it works

History

This method of communication was established to help toddlers with autism spectrum disorder as well as other associated deformities. It was initiated several years past as an alternative to aid in communication between autistic population and other people. It was first applied in the US and currently it has been recognised globally as an alternative way of communication (Blumberg, S. J, et al., 2013). It started with students being taught how to exchange a picture of the item require and the respondent will respond by giving them the particular item. The approach has a variety of benefits related to imitation guidelines and symbols approaches. This approach starts with exchanging small images which promptly create a sentence arrangement (Paden, A. R, et al., 2012).

Advantages of PECS

It is an easy method and is easily understood. For example when the toddler gives you a picture you will easily understand his/her request and honour it (Kostyuk, N, et al., 2010). Another advantage is the images are easy to make and they are mobile communication materials thus the toddles can move around with them. In addition, the child the child can communicate efficiently from a variety of people who are around him/her since by just presenting a picture they understand him/her with fewer struggles (Solomon, M, et al., 2008). The communication is general, meaningful and easily understood.

Demerits of using PECS

There is delay in speech making it difficult to have ordinary conversation skills. The child also have a hard in communicating his desires especially when the pictures are not enough and sometimes close people may misinterpret his/her wants. Adjustments to keep up with the student’s advancement on PECS is also a challenge since there will be need to use various images in various stages of learning (Kakkar, J, et al., 2017).

How PECS work

It is a method of communication to people with autistic challenges. Toddlers use simple images to communicate to their parents whereby they can manage to requests for their desires to the parents (Karst, et al., 2012).

Benefits of training parents on how to use the PECS

Since the prime objective of this research is to help promote better communication between parents and their autistic children; on this subheading we shall list some of the benefits that arise with this alternative communication method.

· Their emotional distresses will decline since they be able understand what the toddler wants.

· They will assist the toddlers in forming communication sentences.

· They will assist the child in communicating with other people.

· There will be a positive interaction between the child and parent.

Conclusion

Parents of autistic children undergo emotional distresses due to inability to communicate with their non-verbal children. Failing to understand what the child wants is a really hard time on parents and thus they need to train the children on the PECS method of communication which will help boost the interaction between parent and child and in the process lessen the stressful situations they experience. However, further investigation should be done on other possible methods of communication for autistic children.

References

Baird, G., & Norbury, C. F. (2016). Social (pragmatic) communication disorders and autism spectrum disorder. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 101(8), 745. //dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1136/archdischild-2014-306944

Blumberg, S. J., Bramlett, M. D., Kogan, M. D., Schieve, L. A., Jones, J. R., & Lu, M. C. (2013). Changes in prevalence of parent-reported autism spectrum disorder in school-aged US children: 2007 to 2011-2012 (No. 65). US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.

Drew, A., Baird, G., Taylor, E., Milne, E., & Charman, T. (2007). The social communication assessment for toddlers with autism (SCATA): An instrument to measure the frequency, form and function of communication in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(4), 648-66. doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1007/s10803-006-0224-9

Ellawadi, A. B., & Weismer, S. E. (2015). Using spoken language benchmarks to characterize the expressive language skills of young children with autism spectrum disorders. American Journal of Speech – Language Pathology (Online), 24(4), 696-707. doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1044/2015_AJSLP-14-0190

Ellis Weismer, S., Lord, C., & Esler, A. (2010). Early language patterns of toddlers on the autism spectrum compared to toddlers with developmental delay. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(10), 1259-73. doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1007/s10803-010-0983-1

Flippin, M., Reszka, S., & Watson, L. R. (2010). Effectiveness of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) on communication and speech for children with autism spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 19(2), 178-195

Kakkar, J., & Srivastava, P. (2017). Challenges and coping among parents having children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Psychosocial Research, 12(2), 363-371.

Karst, J. S., & Van Hecke, A. V. (2012). Parent and family impact of autism spectrum disorders: A review and proposed model for intervention evaluation. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 15(3), 247-77. //dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1007/s10567-012-0119-6

Kostyuk, N., Isokpehi, R. D., Rajnarayanan, R. V., Oyeleye, T. O., Bell, T. P., & Cohly, H. H. (2010). Areas of language impairment in autism. Autism Insights, 2, 31.

Krakovich, T. M., Mcgrew, J. H., Yu, Y., & Ruble, L. A. (2016). Stress in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: An exploration of demands and resources. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(6), 2042-2053. //dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1007/s10803-016-2728-2

Developmental Disorders, 38(8), 1426-38. //dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1007/s10803-007-0510-1

Paden, A. R., Kodak, T., Fisher, W. W., Gawley-Bullington, E. M., & Bouxsein, K. J.(2012). Teaching children with autism to engage in peer-directed mands using a picture exchange communication system. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 45(2), 425. doi:10.1901/jaba.2012.45-425

Park, C. J., Yelland, G. W., Taffe, J. R., & Gray, K. M. (2012). Brief report: The relationship between language skills, adaptive behavior, and emotional and behavior problems in pre-schoolers with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42(12), 2761-6. doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1007/s10803-012-1534-8

Premanand, V., Kumari, K. K., & Mathew, T. P. (2014). Trait emotional intelligence among the parents of children with autism and typically developing children. Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing, 5(9), 1009-1012.

Solomon, M., Ono, M., Timmer, S., & Goodlin-jones, B. (2008). The effectiveness of parent-child interaction therapy for families of children on the autism spectrum. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(9), 1767-76. //dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1007/s10803-008-0567-5

Tager-Flusberg, H., Rogers, S., Cooper, J., Landa, R., Lord, C., Paul, R., … & Yoder, P. (2009). Defining spoken language benchmarks and selecting measures of expressive language development for young children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(3), 643-652.

Ventola, P., Kleinman, J., Pandey, J., Wilson, L., Esser, E., Boorstein, H., . . . Fein, D. (2007). Differentiating between autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities in children who failed a screening instrument for ASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(3), 425-36.