SOCIAL INTERACTION SKILLS FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: A SCRIPT-FADING PROCEDURE FOR BEGINNING READERS

Engaging in spontaneous social exchanges is a central skill deficit of children with autism, and one that is often difficult to remediate. The 3 boys (ages 4, 4, and 5 years) who participated in this study had acquired small verbal repertoires, but typically spoke only when answering questions or re...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied behavior analysis 1998, Vol.31 (2), p.191-202
Main Authors: Krantz, Patricia J., McClannahan, Lynn E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
antecedent control
Autism
Autistic children
Autistic Disorder - rehabilitation
Beginning Reading
Behavior
Behavior Therapy - methods
Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy
Biological and medical sciences
Child, Preschool
Children & youth
Cues
Humans
Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal Competence
Interpersonal Relationship
Intervention
Language acquisition
Learning
Male
Medical sciences
Observer Variation
Outcomes of Treatment
pictorial cues
Pictorial Stimuli
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reading
script fading
Social Behavior
social interaction
Social Skills Training
Speech
Teaching
Treatments
Young Children
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Engaging in spontaneous social exchanges is a central skill deficit of children with autism, and one that is often difficult to remediate. The 3 boys (ages 4, 4, and 5 years) who participated in this study had acquired small verbal repertoires, but typically spoke only when answering questions or requesting preferred edible items or toys, and did not converse with a familiar teacher during baseline. During teaching, textual cues (“Look” and “Watch me”) were embedded in the youngsters' photographic activity schedules; after learning to use the scripts, the children's verbal elaborations and unscripted interactions increased and were maintained when a new recipient of interaction was introduced. After scripts were faded, unscripted interactions not only continued but also generalized to different activities that had not been the topic of teaching. The script‐fading procedure enabled children with autism to converse with adults, to benefit from adults' language models, and to engage in language practice that contributes to fluency.
ISSN:0021-8855
1938-3703
DOI:10.1901/jaba.1998.31-191