Identifying early intervention targets for children with autism in inclusive school settings

This study assessed play and social behavior of young children with autism in inclusive school settings to identify important targets for intervention . Data were collected for five children with autism and for typically devel oping peers. All children with autism received intervention in one-on-one s ettings but did not have individual education plan goals that provided syst ematic intervention for developing play and social skills in their school s ettings. Results indicated the children with autism and their typically dev eloping peers played with a comparable number of stimulus items (e.g., toys ), but the children with autism engaged in these activities for shorter dur ations. Both children with autism and their typically developing peers enga ged in similar levels of social interaction with adults. However, the child ren with autism rarely or never engaged in social interactions with their p eers, whereas the typically developing peers frequently engaged in social i nteractions with other children. The results suggest important targets for intervention.