Using the Teaching Interaction Procedure to Teach Social Skills for Individuals Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder is marked by qualitative impairments with social skills, communication, and restricted and/or repetitive behavior. Given the social skills deficits commonly associated with autism spectrum disorder, several interventions have been developed and explored empirically. One such intervention, which has a considerable history within the practice domain of applied behavior analysis, but has just recently gained more attention with respect to autism intervention, is the teaching interaction procedure. The teaching interaction procedure is a multi-step, systematic approach that has been used to teach a variety of skills for individual diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder; however, this chapter focuses on the use of the teaching interaction procedure to improve social skills. This chapter describes the general sequence of the steps of the teaching interaction procedure and how the teaching interaction procedure differs from other similar interventions. An extensive review of the literature as it applies to social skills development is also provided as well as a discussion of implications for clinicians and potential future areas of research.