Using a Developmental-relationship-based Approach for Improving the Joint Attention of a Child with Autism: A Single-case Design

DOI

10.2991/iciap-17.2018.7How to use a DOI?

Keywords

developmental-relationship-based intervention; joint attention; autism

Abstract

This single-case study examined the effectiveness of the developmental-relationship-based approach in improving the joint attention of a child with autism. This study included one participant, a boy aged 7 years and 4 months. Two components of joint attention were measured: response to joint attention (RJA) and initiating joint attention (IJA). An adapted version of the Early Social Communication Scale was used to compare the child's joint attention skill before and after the intervention, and the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale was used to measure the child’s functional capacity for emotional development. A pre - post design with multiple baselines was employed to quantify changes in joint attention and developmental capacity. A baseline study was conducted over three consecutive days. Nine intervention sessions were conducted and consisted of two psycho-educational sessions with the child’s caregiver and seven direct intervention sessions with the child. The results of the study indicated that the child's participation in IJA has increased even though his participation in RJA has decreased. The decrease in the number of engagements in RJA does not necessarily indicate a lack of improvement in joint attention skills. On the contrary, this result suggested that the quality of the child’s joint attention has improved because the child can initiate rather than merely respond to joint attention. This study shows that the quality of joint attention improves as a child with autism progresses from lower- to higher-level skills. Thus, this study provides promising result to improve the quality of joint attention skills in a seven-year-and-four-month old child with autism.

Copyright

© 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Lia M, Boediman
AU  - Mayang Gita Mardian
PY  - 2017/09
DA  - 2017/09
TI  - Using a Developmental-relationship-based Approach for Improving the Joint Attention of a Child with Autism: A Single-case Design
BT  - Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Intervention and Applied Psychology (ICIAP 2017)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 72
EP  - 81
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/iciap-17.2018.7
DO  - 10.2991/iciap-17.2018.7
ID  - Boediman2017/09
ER  -