Abstract
By analysing the auditory discrimination tasks used in the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) test, the current authors identified 4 component skills that may be prerequisites for speech discriminations: delayed visual-visual identity matching; visual-visual nonidentity matching; auditory-visual matching involving object sounds; and auditory-visual matching involving speech and object sounds. Of 32 children (aged 3-9 yrs; 20 with autistic-spectrum disorder) tested on the ABLA test, all but 1 child displayed pass-fail patterns on the ABLA test consistent with that reported in previous research. Of 17 children (13 with autistic-spectrum disorder) tested on the 4 component skills, all but 1 child showed the 4 component skills to be hierarchically ordered between ABLA Level 4 visual matching and Level 5 auditory discrimination. This study provides confirmation that children with autistic-spectrum disorders follow the same progression as typical children and children with developmentally disabilities on the ABLA test. The component skills have the potential to serve as bridging tasks for children who have persistent difficulty in acquiring basic auditory and speech discriminations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
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