The Effectiveness of a Training Program in Light of Behavioral Theory in Decreasing Echolalia Behaviour among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) In a Jordanian Sample

The present study aims to examine the effectiveness of a training program within the scope of Behavioral theory in decreasing echolalia behavior among (ASD) children. The study sample consists of nine children with autistic spectrum disorder from the Jordanian Academy of Autism, with ages ranging (4 to 8) years. To verify the results of the study, a single subject research design with pretest and posttest (ABA) was applied, to achieve the purpose of the study, a measure of echolalia behavior was constructed and applied, the measure consists of (47) items dived into three main skills (Talk Turning and Object Maintenance, Language Inventory, and Imitation and Repetition). Since evidence of validity and reliability is achieved, a training program based on behavior modification procedure was used to decrease ecolalia behavior among children with autism spectrum disorder, since evidence of validity for it was achieved. Administration of the training was built the application program for a period of ten weeks (about 40 training session), the duration of each session (30) minute. The results of the study show significant improvement on all skills related to echolalia. The most important recommendations that resulted from this study are as follows: to applicate the training programme on a larger sample, and for a longer time, in addition to the need to conduct more studies to other componants of language.