Teaching English as a Foreign Language to High-Functioning Autistic Children

As the number of people in autism spectrum disorder is increasing every day, the need for providing possibilities with regard to various teaching arenas including language learning is more being felt. The main aim of the present study was teaching English as a foreign language to children with high-functioning autism.
This qualitative case study investigated the effect of behavioral and cognitive coaching on teaching English to two verbal Persian-speaking language learners. The four skills of motor-imitation, echoic, tacting, and manding were used for teaching.
Findings: The results showed that out of 103 language items, nine instances of failure were reported concerning both types of interventions. Sam who was taught based on behavioral intervention experienced nine instances failure (five instances in motor-imitation and four in echoic skill) and Mani none.
Despite the slight differences, it seems that teaching based on cognitive intervention was more successful, and it can be recommended for teaching English to high-functioning autistic learners.