Teaching joint attention skills to adolescents and young adults with autism using multiple exemplars and script‐fading procedures

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to teach four adolescents and young adults with autism to initiate bids for joint attention using multiple exemplar training, textual prompts, audio scripts, and script‐fading procedures. A multiple‐probe across‐participants design was used. Three training categories and one generalization probe category of stimuli were assigned to each participant. The results demonstrated that all four participants learned to initiate bids for joint attention under training conditions, although using scripted, previously scripted, and generative language. Responding generalized to the nontraining stimuli within the training categories. Three of the four participants also demonstrated generalized responding across stimuli from the probe category. Acquisition of such responses may help increase positive social interactions for adolescents and young adults with autism in the future.