Parent Implemented Joint Attention Intervention for Preschoolers with Autism

Jones, Emily A.
Feeley, Kathleen M.

Emily A. Jones, PhD., BCBA, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University, 720 Northern Boulevard, Brookville, NY 11548. (516) 299-3479 [email protected]
Kathleen M. Feeley, Ph.D., BCBA Assistant Professor, Department of Special Education and Literacy, C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University, 720 Northern Boulevard, Brookville, NY 11548. (516) 299-2231 [email protected]
Preparation of this manuscript was supported by a Grant from the Organization for Autism Research. We are grateful to the children and their parents who dedicated their time and energy to joint attention intervention. We thank Marisa Posé who assisted with oversight of intervention and Laura Athey-Lloyd who assisted with data analysis. We also thank the Young Autism Program at Developmental Disabilities Institute (Long Island, New York) for their assistance with this research.

The Journal of Speech and Language Pathology & Applied Behavior Analysis 4(1):p 74-89, 2009. | DOI: 10.1037/h0100251

The identification of deficits in joint attention skills in children with autism has resulted in the recent development and demonstration of intervention procedures to remediate such impairments. In this study parents utilized behavioral intervention procedures (i.e., discrete trial instruction and pivotal response training strategies) to teach 3 preschoolers with autism to respond to others' joint attention directives and to initiate joint attention. Results replicate previous research using discrete trial instruction and pivotal response training strategies while demonstrating parents could effectively utilize the intervention procedures to teach joint attention skills. Given the extent to which autism can drastically impair social and communicative behaviors, it is important to develop interventions that specifically address early developing skills such as joint attention and can be effectively utilized by parents within the home environment.