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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Champagne Terrace/Bordeaux (Novotel London West)
Background: Spontaneous social initiations are important social communication skills critical to initiating and maintaining reciprocal social interactions. The literature and our preliminary studies have identified marked deficits in social initiations in young children with autism. Thus far, the majority of interventions targeting social initiations have focused on teaching children with well-established verbal abilities to initiate using speech. Little is known about intervention techniques specifically designed to teach young nonverbal children to initiate using nonverbal communication skills or about the effect of this early training on response to other treatment.
Objectives: (1) develop and evaluate a social initiation training (SIT) for nonverbal children with autism, (2) assess individual differences in the types of social initiations that increase after SIT, (3) assess the relationship between individual behavior profiles prior to SIT and the acquisition of social initiations during SIT, and (4) assess the generalization of social initiations learned during SIT.
Methods: A single subject multiple baseline design across subjects was used to examine treatment efficacy and to evaluate individual differences in treatment response. Baseline and treatment sessions were evaluated for changes in social initiation behaviors, the development of verbal and nonverbal communication, and changes in other social interaction skills. Results: Increases in social initiations skills were evidenced for all participants in the SIT program. Differences in individual behavior profiles prior to SIT were related to the individual response patterns in social initiation acquisition during SIT. Social initiations learned with experimenters in the laboratory generalized to parents in the home environment.
Conclusions: SIT appears to be an effective intervention to teach appropriate social initiations to nonverbal children with autism.
Objectives: (1) develop and evaluate a social initiation training (SIT) for nonverbal children with autism, (2) assess individual differences in the types of social initiations that increase after SIT, (3) assess the relationship between individual behavior profiles prior to SIT and the acquisition of social initiations during SIT, and (4) assess the generalization of social initiations learned during SIT.
Methods: A single subject multiple baseline design across subjects was used to examine treatment efficacy and to evaluate individual differences in treatment response. Baseline and treatment sessions were evaluated for changes in social initiation behaviors, the development of verbal and nonverbal communication, and changes in other social interaction skills. Results: Increases in social initiations skills were evidenced for all participants in the SIT program. Differences in individual behavior profiles prior to SIT were related to the individual response patterns in social initiation acquisition during SIT. Social initiations learned with experimenters in the laboratory generalized to parents in the home environment.