Social interaction is considered a core deficit in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Due to impairments in social interactions, children with ASD fail to develop peer relationships and share enjoyment and interests (Ashbaugh, Bradshaw, K.Koegel, & L. Koegel, 2014). Difficulty engaging with others may persist throughout the lifespan; therefore it is crucial to identify these underdeveloped social behaviors and to target early intervention. In regard to intervention strategies, Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) has been proved to be an effective, efficacious and naturalistic intervention for communication and social functioning of children with ASD derived from applied behavioral analysis (ABA). An important component of PRT is motivational strategies which emphasizes natural reinforcement. Reinforcers that are logically related to the outcome of a behavior have been shown to be more effective than unrelated reinforcers in teaching tasks. For example, a child opening the lid of a container with an edible reinforcer inside (i.e. cookie) is more effective than a child opening the lid of a container then receiving an edible reinforcer after. By implementing PRT, children with autism will strengthen the response-reinforcer relationship thus encourages their social communication. A study done by researchers L. Koegel, K. Koegel and Vernon (2009) demonstrated that intervention sessions with embedded social interaction reinforcers resulted in increased levels of child initiated social engagement during communication. Nonverbal dyadic orienting meaning responses to attention bids by a researcher, and child affect were shown to improve in embedded social interaction conditions compared to conditions with non-embedded social inte... ... middle of paper ... ...Researchers of this study reported that PRT strategies increase the initiation of targeted and untargeted social questions rather than questions related to restricted interests or behavior (i.e. requesting). This indicates that PRT sets a foundation for social motivation in interacting with others throughout their daily life. Pivotal Response Treatment strategies have been shown to be a natural way of teaching social communication because it indirectly evokes the child's initiated social interaction. PRT strategies mirrors how typically developing children perceive others (i.e. their partner's reactions), therefore it can be generalized. By implementing this treatment strategy into therapy, children with autism will experience rewards of enjoyment, comfort, and companionship, thus motivating them to continue social interactions to develop relationships with others
Development of social skills is very important for children that are diagnosed with autism because of ...
Soenksen and Alper, 2006 D. Soenksen, S. Alper Teaching a young child to appropriately gain attention of peers using a social story intervention Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 21 (1) (2006), pp. 36–44
Incidental teaching focuses on child-initiated interactions. (Hall, 2013) Incidental teaching is used to increase skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. (Hall, 2013) A study done by Hart and Risley (1975) looked at the incidental teaching process used at the preschool age to aide in teaching language. Incidental teaching has been the most frequent strategy that has been used to teach language. When using incidental teaching a child’s request may be verbal or nonverbal. Examples include reaching for an object that is out of one’s reach, requesting food or a toy or calling an adult’s name. There is a series of decisions that an adult can use to respond to the child’s request. These choices include: if the occasion should be used for incidental teaching: if so then a choice regarding the language behavior that is obtained from the child, and then a choice has to be made concerning the cue that will be used to initiate instruction, the cur could be focus of attention by itself, or in addition to the focused attention a verbal cue as well. If the individual does not respond to the cue, then a choice concerning the degree of prompt to be used, the “fullest degree: a request for imitation; medium degree: a request for partial imitation, or minimal degree: a request for the terminal language behavior.” (Hart & Risley, 1975) This study was performed on boys and girls between the ages of four years old to five years old. The baseline procedures ensured that the children had a variety of vocabulary for use in sentences. The sentences that they were taught was “I want x so I can y.” The second step of the procedure was the use of incidental teaching of compound sentences directed to teachers. After thirty-six days of school, the incidental teaching began to occur when the children needed assistance in trying to get different preschool materials.
... cited in Dorey et al., 2009). This large percentage indicates that extinction of these reinforcers could lead to a decrease in these behaviors. An earlier study supported this claim by conducting research with children with Autism engaging in SIBs. Hanley, Pizaaz, Fisher, and Maglieri (2005) developed a study with a young boy with Autism who engaged in SIBs. After a functional assessment, the researchers found that his behaviors had been maintained by tangibles and attention. Whenever the subject began producing maladaptive behaviors, his mother would present a toy and verbal attention in order to elicit calmness. Similar to the research completed by Dorey et al. (2009), the researchers extinguished this reinforcement and rewarded alternative positive behaviors. When this was carried out, the SIBs decreased and more acceptable forms of communication were utilized.
Koegel, R. L., Koegel, L. K., Vernon, W. T. (2009). Improving Social Initiations in Young
“Your child has autism spectrum disorder” are words no parent wants to hear. They are words that will instill fear, worry, and sadness. When parents hear this for the first time, they will have many questions. “Is there anything I can do to help my child? If so, what can be done?” Early intervention services; such as applied behavior analysis therapy, occupational therapy, sensory integration therapy, and speech therapy before the age of three; can help improve the development of children with autism spectrum disorder. As an educator, early intervention is a subject teachers should be well educated in. It would be beneficial to the educator and the student, for a teacher to know and understand early intervention strategies.
Although the ideal approach for addressing Autism in an aging context would be a mixed research method, I believe the strongest one is the social model. The social model describes the issue that people with disabilities face are because of how society is structured. "It identifies systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently) that mean society is the main contributory factor in disabling people" (Wasserman, 2016). They are saying, although there are varying difficulties that each individual with Autism will face, it only becomes a disability when society allows it to be. This is because in this model it is society's responsibility to account and include everyone so they can live their best life
“Where could anybody be without organizing their own thoughts”(Slater 1)? Imagine living in a world where one could not communicate with anyone around them on a truly rational level, even though the individual is completely rational. Imagine feeling so frightened by life, that one escapes to an Alternate reality, where they become catatonic, or even take on forms of different personalities to deal with everyday situations. Try not being able to communicate through one’s own words, only repeating what others have said in order to get along in life. This is what living with Autism is like. Autism, through the book definition is a “complex developmental disability…that appears during the first three years of life…the result of a neurological disorder that affects the brain.”(ASOA 1). Autism is often accompanied by Multiple Personality Disorder, which helps the person escape to a world, or situation where they can feel, “so called” normal. Multiple Personality Disorder is curable, and Autism is treatable, so with counseling and socialization with others, patients can be functiong members of society. Both disorders have to be treated, and worked at which is a form of re-socialization.
I was responsible for implementing intervention for one child with autism, while also working with his typically developing sibling and interacting with their parents. Often times, this child had temper tantrums which taught me to quickly and effectively respond to his outbursts. This hands-on experience expanded my understanding as to how people adapt to a lifestyle when they have a family member that is not typically developing. Having the parents’ approval and trust in working with their child showed me the crucial importance of having a strong connection with individual
In our society communication is a key component and vital to existence in success in this day in age. Not only communication but social skills, motor skills, and our basic senses are the platforms on which we build off of, well, in the world of autism communication is impacted and for that reason an audible disturbance can come off as a heavy impairment…..to the naked eye. In my experience working with autistic boys & girls has showed me the sheer beauty and honesty of how they communicate and relay their feelings and emotions. The autism spectrum disorder is commonly known. Autism has wide spectrum of severity ranging from low to high and in between. This literature review dissects the value of full functioning beings and autistic beings, and explains my interpretation of autism and their ability to find new components to life.
FCT is based on the theory that if you can teach an individual to replace problematic behaviors with socially acceptable communication, which serve the same function, then the problematic behaviors will decrease or extinguish. Since the mid-1980s researchers have consistently shown the effectiveness of FCT to address both the communication and behavioral needs. According to The National Standards Project, Phase 2 (NSP2), FCT is an emerging intervention (2015, p.71). Emerging interventions are interventions in which one or more studies suggest they may produce favorable outcomes but additional high quality studies are needed that consistently show these interventions to be effective for individuals with ASD (NSP2, 2015). The NSP2 seeks to provide the strength of evidence supporting educational and behavioral interventions that target the core characteristics of ASD, describe the age, diagnosis, and skills/behaviors targeted for improvement associated with intervention options, identify the limitations of the current body of research on autism interventions, and offer recommendations for engaging in evidence-based practice for ASD (NSP, p.9,
Autism is a problem that people have with communicating. It can affect many contrasting types of people in divergent ways and there is not yet a complete cure for it. People need to know about this disability and what people can do with people who have it.
Whenever the benefits of inclusion are brought up the first component that comes to mind is: social interaction. The benefits of social interaction is the most important component for including children with autism in an inclusion, general education setting (Lynch & Irvine, 2009). The reason this benefit is so high within a general education setting is that interactions occur at a greater frequency. Typical peers that meet cor...
Ospina, MB., Krebs, SJ., Clark, B., Karkhaneh, M., Hartling, L., et al. (2008). Behavioural and Developmental Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Clinical Systematic Review. PLoS ONE, 3(11). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19015734
Kamps, D. et.al. (2002). Peer Training to Facilitate Social Interaction for Elementary Students with Autism and Their Peers. Exceptional Children, 68 (2), 173-187.