Dr. Barry M. Prizant

PH.D, CCC-SLP

ASD Publications

Publications on Assessment/Intervention in ASD and related disabilities

The following are selected articles and chapters published over a 30 year period. This was our effort to provide one of the first developmental and relationship-based perspectives in supporting individuals with ASD at a time when behavioral approaches dominated the field. The specific focus on Social Communication, Emotional Regulation and related priorities, based on research on child development as well as ASD, provided the foundation for the eventual development of The SCERTS Model.

  • Enhancing language and communication: Theoretical foundations. (Wetherby, Prizant, & Schuler (1997)
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    In the Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (2nd Ed).
  • Enhancing language and communication: Language approaches. (Prizant, Schuler, Wetherby, and Rydell, 1997)
    [Download this Publication]
    In the Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (2nd Ed)
  • Enhancing language and communication: Prelanguage approaches. (Schuler, Wetherby, & Prizant, 1997)
    [Download this Publication]
    In the Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (2nd Ed)

These chapters are a follow-up to the three chapters I originally co-authored with my dear late colleague, Dr. Adriana Schuler, in the first Handbook on Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. For the second edition, Adriana and I invited Drs. Amy Wetherby and Patrick Rydell to contribute. The comprehensive framework, and curriculum structure that are presented in these chapters was a precursor to the development of the SCERTS model. This chapter includes specific information from an assessment as well as program planning perspective including goals and objectives in the areas of social communication and emotional regulation.

This chapter came out of the presentation that Dr. Amy Wetherby and I gave at the American Speech Language Hearing Association in 1998. We felt that it was important to delineate the continuum of approaches ranging from highly-structured, adult directed discrete trial approaches to approaches based on three decades of research in social pragmatics and communication development. Our intention was to move beyond general labels (ABA vs. Developmental approaches) and discuss in greater detail how many practices followed in traditional discrete trial approaches for teaching language “skills” is inconsistent with research on effective practices that support social communication development. We make the distinction between Traditional ABA approaches and Contemporary ABA approaches, a distinction that has since been adopted by many in the field of ASD.

The following articles and chapters address various dimensions of programming for children and individuals with autism and related disabilities. I am also including my earliest publication (1982) advocating for a central role for Speech-language Pathologists in working with individuals with Autism Spectrum disorders.