PS-89
Title: Toddlers in Early Intervention: Engagement, Play, Joint Attention, and Language
Authors: Ya-Chih Chang, Stephanie Shire, Wendy Shih, Connie Kasari
Introduction: Toddlers learn while socially interacting with adults in their natural environment. Cognitive and language skills are targeted for toddlers with special needs during these naturalistic interactions. Studies have found that when young children with special needs are in a state of joint engagement, they are more likely to demonstrate play skills, joint attention, and language
(Adamson, Bakeman, Deckner, & Romski, 2009; Kasari, Gulsrud, Wong, Kwon, & Locke, 2010). However, most of these studies have examined primary caregiver-child interactions, and very few studies have examined children's joint engagement with paraprofessionals that young children with special needs spend much of their time with within their early intervention programs.
The current study will examine children's engagement, joint attention, and language skills within the context of group interaction time at an early intervention center.
Methods: Participants included 113 toddlers (2-3 years of age) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who were recruited from an early intervention center from the New York area to participate in a center-based targeted social communication intervention.
The sample included toddlers from under-resourced families and of diverse backgrounds.
Language T scores from the Mullen are recoded into 4 categories based on standard deviations (SD) from the mean: Group 3=T
Score≥50, Group 2=(T Score<50 and T Score ≥40, 1 SD from the mean), Group 1=(T Score<40 and T Score ≥30, between 1 SD and
2 SD lower from the mean), and Group 0=T Score<30 (below 2 SD from the mean). Many of the children did not demonstrate any joint engagement, play, or joint attention skills at entry given opportunity during group activities. Hence, joint engagement, play, and joint attention skills are recoded into binary processes: having no skills or any skills. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between joint engagement, play, or joint attention skills with standardized language scores.
Results: Toddlers were categorized into four groups based on their standardized language abilities. There were 64 (57%) children who were in Group 0, 29 (26%) children in Group 1, 18 (16%) children in Group 2, and 2 (1%) children in Group 3.
Increases in standardized language scores was not significantly associated with having joint engagement (χ2(3)=4.678, p=0.197) or functional play (χ2(3)=3.974, p=0.264). However, increases in standardized language scores was significantly associated with increased odds of having joint attention skills (χ2(3)=13.95, p=0.00297).
Discussion: The results indicate that toddlers with ASD in center based group activities are spending a significant amount of time unengaged or object-engaged/ parallel play. Toddlers were rarely in joint engagement. Additionally, standardized language skills were not associated with children's engagement and play skills. These findings suggest that despite children's language abilities, appropriate scaffolding and support from adults is needed to be jointly engaged. Future studies should implement intervention strategies to better support paraprofessionals at early intervention centers to improve play and joint engagement.
References/Citations:
• Adamson, Bakeman, Deckner, & Romski, M. (2009). Joint engagement and the emergence of language in children with
Autism and Down Syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39, 84-96.
• Kasari, C., Gulsrud, A., Wong, C., Kwon, S., & Locke, J. (2010). Randomized controlled caregiver mediated joint engagement interventions for toddlers with autism. Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(9), 1045-1056.