Foreign language learning as a key to self-determination: a multiple case study of school-age persian-speaking students on autism spectrum disorder
Foreign language learning as a key to self-determination: a multiple case study of school-age persian-speaking students on autism spectrum disorder

Summary/Abstract: Making individuals ready for future adult life is the basic premise of education. Self-determination can help individuals with disabilities to be ready to make choices. Learning a language other than one’s first language can promote self-determination by providing more job opportunities. This qualitative case study focuses on teaching English as a foreign language through behavioral and cognitive interventions to two verbal Iranian Persian-speaking school-age children with autism. Sam was taught based on behavioral intervention and Mani based on cognitive intervention techniques. 239 language items including 120 tacting, 93 writing, 13 language functions, and 13 spelling items were taught during 24 sessions. The results show that cognitive intervention with a 2.9% difference is more effective. A model is proposed as a result of this study. The insights from the present study pose practical implications for the theory and pedagogy of teaching a foreign language to individuals with autism.

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