The Effect of Prompts within Embedded Circumscribed Interests to Teach Initiating Joint Attention in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Joint attention occurs when two people engage in eye contact, verbalizations, or gestures between each other and a common object for the purpose of social interaction. Interventions which embedded participant’s circumscribed interests (i.e., specific topics or themes of abnormal intensity) in materials found increases in joint attention without direct intervention. Previous joint attention intervention successfully taught three children with autism to respond to others’ joint attention directives using interventions with circumscribed interest-related materials. However, initiating joint attention and generalization across materials and settings were not addressed. The current study investigated the effectiveness of prompt fading and reinforcement while engaging in circumscribed interest-related activities on initiating joint attention for three children with autism. All children acquired joint attention initiations; however, only two did so while engaging with circumscribed interest-related materials. Participants demonstrated variable generalization across activities, partners, and settings. Parents reported declines in circumscribed interest-related social interference from pre- to post-intervention. Results suggest teaching joint attention initiations using circumscribed interest-related materials to teach joint attention initiations may be an effective strategy for some children with autism. Future research implications are discussed.