Social turn taking, a preverbal social communication competency often difficult for young children with autism, may be foundational to joint attention when included as a component of interventions for children with autism. In this study, social turn-taking was promoted through a parent mediated learning approach to intervention in a telehealth setting. Following a mixed-methods design, the present study explored the results of this new intervention model for a toddler with autism. The study also sought to understand any changes in the parent-child relationship because of the intervention. Findings indicate that the intervention supported the child's social communication competencies, including social turn-taking, joint attention, and facial focusing. Qualitative data revealed improvements in the parent-child relationship. These preliminary results lend support for promoting social turn-taking in interventions for children with autism, as well as for following developmental, parent-driven approaches to intervention. Studies with larger sample sizes are needed to understand these findings further. Implications for practice and research in early intervention are presented.
Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Early intervention; Family-centered practices; Parent-child relationship; Social communication.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.