Joint attention intervention for young children with autism and their parents: Combined discrete trial and milieu teaching approaches

Abstract

Objective.– The purpose of the study was to develop JA intervention program for children with autism and their parents in Taiwan.\r\n\r\nMethods.– Participants were 15 children with autism (CA = 28–56 months, MA = 14-50 months) in intervention group and 15 CA, MA, gender and SES matched children with autism in control group. The child JA intervention program was used discrete trial training and milieu teaching approaches. The JA intervention program for the parents was based on the Parent JA Intervention Manual (PJAIM). The intervention consisted of 20 sessions, each session was 60 minutes for 10 weeks. The pre-, post- and 3 months follow-up tests were: ESCS (Mundy et al., 2003), and free play of parent-child interaction.\r\n\r\nResults.– The initial results showed significant difference in joint engagement between intervention group and control group, with intervention group yielding more supported joint engagement in parent child interaction.\r\n\r\nConclusions.– The initial findings revealed that the JA intervention program for young children with autism and their parents seems positive. Further studies are needed to analyze the joint attention skills and the collateral abilities and follow the long-term effects.