Date Approved

3-11-2013

Embargo Period

3-3-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. Special Education

Department

Language, Literacy, and Special Education

College

College of Education

Advisor

Xin, Joy

Subject(s)

Composition (Language arts); Autism spectrum disorders; Computer-assisted instruction

Disciplines

Special Education and Teaching

Abstract

Writing is an important medium to express one's ideas and needs and is an integral part of the curriculum in secondary schools. Within an accountability system, students are expected to compose narrative, persuasive, and informational essays for state and district level assessments. Students with ASD demonstrate developmental delays in language and communication skills, including verbal and written language, thus, writing is a difficult area and challenge in their learning. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of computer-assisted instruction using digital stories to teach expressive writing to students with ASD. A total of six students with autism participated in the study. A single subject design with AB phases was used to compare the level of total words written, total words and sentences correctly written, and quality of writing. During the baseline, participants were evaluated by their free writing with assigned topics, and during the intervention, students were shown six stories with digital pictures and wrote a total of six compositions in response to each story. The results showed an increase of their total words written, total words and sentences correctly written, and improvement in their writing quality. Computer-assisted instruction using digital pictures seemed to benefit students with ASD in learning writing.

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