Autism-Open Access
Open Access

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Graduate Program Director of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, USA

Biography

Dr. Mainess is a full-time Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. She joined the faculty in 2001 and has served in many capacities throughout the years including speech-language pathology assistant program director (coordinating programs on both the LLU and Crafton Hills College campuses), undergraduate program director, and is currently the graduate program director for the Master of Science degree program.

Publications

• Research Article   
  A Comparative Analysis of Social (Pragmatic) Communication Skills in Students with High-Functioning Autism and Pragmatic Language Impairment Using Video-Based Assessments
  Author(s): Adriana Lavi* and Karen J. Mainess
  
  Social communication deficits are becoming more evident and better understood as our awareness, diagnosis, and treatment advance. Additionally, social language difficulties related to Autism Spectrum Disorder are becoming more distinguished and better understood. The current study aims to evaluate six key pragmatic language constructs introduced by The Clinical Assessment of Pragmatics and comparatively analyse these six constructs in three groups - adolescents who present as: typically developing, present with pragmatic language impairment, and present with high functioning autism. The six constructs analysed include: instrumental performance, social context appraisal, paralinguistic decoding, instrumental performance, affective expression, and paralinguistic signals. Results of the current study revealed significant differences across groups of students on receptive and expressive p.. View More»
  DOI: 10.35248/2165-7890.19.9.239

  Abstract HTML PDF