SOCIAL-INTERACTION SKILLS FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM - A SCRIPT-FADING PROCEDURE FOR BEGINNING READERS

Engaging in spontaneous social exchanges is a central skill deficit of children with autism, and one that is often difficult to remediate. T he 3 boys (ages 4, 4, and 5 years) who participated in this study had acquired small verbal repertoires, but typically spoke only when answe ring questions or requesting preferred edible items or toys, and did n ot converse with a familiar teacher during baseline. During teaching, textual cues (''Look'' and ''Watch me'') were embedded in the youngste rs' photographic activity schedules; after learning to use the scripts , the children's verbal elaborations and unscripted interactions incre ased and were maintained when a new recipient of interaction was intro duced. After scripts were faded, unscripted interactions not only cont inued but also generalized to different activities that had not been t he topic of teaching. The script-fading procedure enabled children wit h autism to converse with adults, to benefit: from adults' language mo dels, and to engage in language practice that contributes to fluency.