Aided AAC interventions had large effects on targeted behavioral outcomes in individuals with ASD, per a meta-analysis of 24 single-case studies¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2012 · checked against its sources 2026-10-19 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q3 i? Overall, aided AAC interventions had large effects on targeted behavioral outcomes in individuals with ASD. → Ganz 2012

Evidence¶

Ganz 2012¶

Ganz, J. B., Earles-Vollrath, T. L., Heath, A. K., Parker, R. I., Rispoli, M. J., & Duran, J. B. (2012). A Meta-Analysis of Single Case Research Studies on Aided Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems with Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 60–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1212-2

q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2

Meta-analysis of single-case research on aided AAC with individuals with ASD, synthesizing studies via the Improvement Rate Difference effect size measure. The article reports that "aided AAC interventions had large effects on targeted behavioral outcomes in individuals with ASD." No numeric IRD value is printed in the available text.

"Results indicated that, overall, aided AAC interventions had large effects on targeted behavioral outcomes in individuals with ASD."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

Autism Spectrum Disorder — population: instruction studied with autistic learners, not a comparison with non-autistic learners

Outcomes of students with disabilities improve when they receive specially designed instruction responsive to assessment data — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
AAC interventions showed positive effects on all targeted behavioral outcomes, with greater effects for communication skills than other skill categories — related
The research base on aided AAC approaches for individuals with autism consists mostly of single-case research with small numbers of participants — related
PECS and speech-generating devices produced larger effects than other picture-based AAC systems, which nonetheless showed small effects — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
Heterogeneity across reviewed single-subject studies limits broad AAC comparisons, warranting more focused syntheses — related
Parent Implemented Intervention Improves Outcomes — related
Aided AAC systems show advantages over manual signs for acquiring requests, and motor imitation and matching skills predict manual sign acquisition — a narrower finding that bears on this claim

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`aided-aac-large-effects-asd-single-case-meta-analysis`
`title`	`Aided AAC interventions had large effects on targeted behavioral outcomes in individuals with ASD, per a meta-analysis of 24 single-case studies`
`description`	`Aided AAC interventions had large effects on targeted behavioral outcomes in individuals with ASD, per a meta-analysis of 24 single-case studies`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`newest_evidence`	`2012`
`source_checked`	`2026-10-19`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-14`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `ganz-2012`

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