Using adult redirects and prompts to increase interactions among children with autism and their normally developing peers

Recent research has investigated the successfulness of using adult redirects and prompts to increase the social interactions of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their normally developing peers (Schuele, Rice, & Wilcox, 1995). Given the limited child-peer interactions among children with autism, it was hypothesized that they would also benefit from this same form of treatment. Thus, this study sought to investigate the effect of the use of adult redirects and prompts on the interactions of children with autism and their normally developing peers. Specifically analyzed were the number of initiations. the successfulness of those initiations. and the mean length of the interactions (MLI).

Twelve subjects with autism and 12 normally developing children in pre-kindergarten through second grade grouped into dyads were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Each dyad participated in a 30 minute play session. In the experimental group, the principal investigator (PI) provided redirects and prompts during the first half of the play session to encourage the children to interact, but withdrew them during the second half. In the control group, the PI never provided redirects or prompts.

Based on the data, the intervention did not appear to have an effect on the subjects with autism for number of initiations or number of successful initiations, however there was a slight increase in the length of the MLI for these subjects from first to second halves of the play sessions. The intervention may have influenced the normally developing subjects as indicated by their higher numbers of initiations and successful initiations compared to their control counterparts. The descriptive data that were gained from this study were also important such as the limited use of nonverbal initiations and the effects of appropriate peer matching. Future investigations would be beneficial to analyze the efficacy of different methods of delivering redirects and prompts. Also evaluating the different types of initiations and responses (verbal versus nonverbal) used by the children would be helpful for planning intervention.