The Effects of Signed and Spoken Words Taught with Music on Sign and Speech Imitation by Children with Autism

The intent of this study was to explore the use of music as a strategy to promote better memory for manual signs with children with autism, who have been exposed to simultaneous communication. The 10 children tested were taught a total of 14 signs under two conditions. One condition involved signs taught in conjunction with music and speech. The other condition involved signs taught in conjunction with rhythm and speech. The number of correctly imitated signed words and correcly imitated spoken words out of 7 total, were measured under both conditions. Results from 2 factorial ANOVAs indicated significant main effects for condition type (music vs. rhythm) for both the number of imitated signed words (F = 6.54, p < .05) and the number of imitated spoken words (F = 6.33, p < .02). In each case, correct imitation favored music condition training over rhythm condition training. The results are discussed in terms of representing a potential first step in using music within a simultaneous communication context to promote better pragmatic skills with children with autism.