Social interaction skills for children with autism: A script-fading procedure for nonreaders

Although children with autism often learn to answer questions and make requ ests, many do not initiate or pursue conversation with others. In this stud y, audiotaped scripts were introduced and then systematically faded to teac h four boys with autism to converse with a target adult. A multiple-probe d esign across participants was used to assess the number of scripted and uns cripted interactions during Baseline I, Baseline II, Teaching, and Maintena nce phases. The intervention procedures increased unscripted interaction an d the effects were maintained for 10-92 sessions. Previous research has doc umented the favorable effects of fading written scripts for children with r eading skills. The current investigation demonstrates the effectiveness of audiotaped scripts and script fading for children with autism who are nonre aders. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.