Teaching Initiated Question Asking to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Through a Short-Term Parent-Mediated...

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often exhibit challenges with social communication.
• Increasing social initiations, such as question asking, is a key therapeutic goal for ASD.
• Parent-mediated interventions offer a promising avenue for supporting social development in children with ASD.

Observation:

• This study utilized a multiple baseline design to assess the intervention's impact.
• Mothers received a 3-week training program focused on facilitating question asking.
• Data collection occurred during concurrent sessions to track progress.

Findings:

• All three participating children with ASD showed an increased frequency of question asking.
• Two children maintained these gains post-intervention.
• Generalization of question asking was observed across novel items, people, and settings.

Implications:

• Short-term, parent-implemented interventions are feasible for increasing social initiations in children with ASD.
• This approach shows promise for improving social communication skills and affect in children with ASD.
• Findings support the integration of parent-mediated strategies into early intervention for ASD.