Sibling-mediated social interaction intervention

Sibling-mediated social interaction intervention for young children with autism.

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

| June 22, 2006 | Tsao, Ling-Ling; Odom, Samuel L.

Several researchers have advocated peer-mediated social interventions as an effective approach for children with autism (Harrower & Dunlap, 2001; McConnell, 2002). In this type of intervention, typically developing peers have been regarded as the most powerful agents of behavioral change in social settings (Utley, Mortweet, & Greenwood, 1997), so classroom teachers often have selected socially competent classmates as social interveners for children with disabilities. These nondisabled peers are taught simple behavioral strategies that elicit or support the interactions of children with disabilities, such as asking a child to play, sharing a toy, or suggesting play activities (Brown, Odom, & Conroy, 2001; English, Goldstein, Shafer, & Kaczmarek, 1997; Kohler & Strain, 1999; Odom & Strain, 1986). After the training sessions, researchers have one or more trained peers act as the social interaction agents for the study participants with disabilities. These peers model, reinforce, and/or prompt appropriate social behaviors in classroom settings (Goldstein, Kaczmarek, Pennington, & Shafer, 1992; Strain & Odom, 1986). Peer-mediated interventions have produced positive effects for children with disabilities in classroom settings (Odom et al., 2003). It may be possible to extend this intervention approach to the home by placing siblings in the roles filled by peers in classroom-based peer-mediated interventions.

Several researchers have examined the feasibility of using typically developing siblings to promote the skills, development, and participation of children with autism, with siblings most often filling a "teacher" role. Cash and Evans (1975) first investigated the possibility of using young children as behavior modifiers for their young siblings with disabilities. The researchers taught three sisters how to teach their younger siblings with disabilities to complete an experimental task (i.e., dropping chips into holes). Building on this research, Colletti and Harris (1977) trained an older sister to modify the behaviors of her younger sibling with autism through delivering contingent reinforcement for increased bead stringing. The results of these fairly basic research studies indicated that siblings might be effective in helping children with autism learn functional skills in natural settings.

the study addressed the following research questions:

1. Would the sibling-mediated social intervention change the typically developing children's social behaviors when playing with their siblings with ASD?

2. Would the sibling-mediated social intervention produce increases in the social interactions of the children with ASD?

3. Would the sibling-mediated intervention have a collateral effect on joint attention (a behavior category of child orientation) between children with ASD and their siblings?

4. If the intervention produced an increase in overall interactions, would the increased interactions generalize to a setting outside of the home?

5. Were the outcomes of the intervention socially valid?

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Music Therapy aids Social Interaction

Sensory stimulation aids Social Interaction is a hunch that I am working and do not yet have concrete proof of. So I was looking to see if any studies suggest that its possible....

Introduction

Music therapy uses live music making and composition techniques to encourage children, adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders to engage in spontaneous and creative musical activities.

The therapist and client use a variety of percussion or tuned instruments, or voice, to develop shared and interactive musical activities.

The individual with autism does not need musical skills to benefit from music therapy but the music therapist does need a high level of musical and therapeutic skill.

Supporters of music therapy believe that it can be used to develop social engagement, joint attention, communication abilities, while also addressing emotional needs and quality of life.

Aims

According to the National Autistic Society

‘Music therapy aims to encourage increased self-awareness/self-other awareness, leading to more overt social interactions. The therapy stimulates and develops the communicative use of voice and pre-verbal dialogue with another, establishing meaning and relationship to underpin language development. The client may also benefit from increased tolerance of sound, tolerance of and capacity for two-way communication, the opportunity to exercise joint attention, and other emotional needs met in the therapeutic process.’ (National Autistic Society, 2005)

Claims

There have been a number of claims for the use of music therapy with individuals with autism. For example, Wigram, Gold and Oldfield have claimed the following benefits for music therapy.

In the area of Social development:

• Motivated interaction
• Shared and understood experiences
• Relationship building skills
• Tolerance of change
• Entrained responses
• Flexibility

In the area of Emotional needs:

• Developed and Increased sense of self
• Empathic synchronicity – shared emotions
• Containment of emotional expression
• Emergence of insight and self-esteem    

For more....

Working with Asha, Bangalore

Asha - Academy for Severe Handicaps and Autism is a day school at Basavesvaranagar, Bangalore. I will be working with a group of students from Asha through the course of this project.

Today was my first visit to the school. The school has an eclectic approach and the children go through a variety of activities through the day to acquire various skills. I saw the children engage in fine motor activities- beading, lacing, clips; gross motor activities- Yoga; Communication- Pictures, Text, Cards; self help skills- buttoning shirt and Occupational Therapy(SI). In my next visit I will observe a Computer class, Social skills and Art therapy.

Sensory Stuff

Sensory Spaces and Products from the Sensory Impact website.

Tablelit Toy Concept

Tabelit is a learning toy concept that will help people with learning disability to paint by pushing buttons with different coloring facility, allowing expressing their creativity. It has been designed with five different layers and features two mini speakers to produce quality sounds. The left sidebar includes an illuminating touch strip, on which the user can slide their finger to select a color that will come across the switches.
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Meeting with Dr. Seshadri and Dr.Golhar

As mentioned in my Brief through the course I will discuss my progress with Specialists in the feild. On thursday I met with Dr. Shekhar Seshadri and Dr. Tejas Golhar ( both are members of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NIMHANS).

They suggested...
I read 'The Me Book', Autism: Explaining the Enigma and theory of mind. Also look up Behavior Therapy - Shaping and Successive approximation.

Considering using PECS in the toy. But in a more grounded contextual way, relating to daily activities and their environment. Made me wonder if its possible to combine PECS and Snoezelen. Hmmm..

I had a question," If the core of Snoezelen is that it is Non-directive and about choice and the power that comes with it then does adding interaction take away or lose the concept; cause now there is a sort of goal or aim?"
The Ans: that a purist approach would say that it should be left completely non-directive. But this would a marriage of two approaches. With Snoezelen children enjoy sensory stimulation (unprocessed stimulation). While interacting they absorbed stimulation is integrated and given direction as there is a goal (processed stimulation). And it is important for autistic children to acquire life skills through adaptive responses.

It might be a good idea to consider creating two products. As there is a great deal of variation between Mild and Severe Autism. Maybe the one would be more sensory and aimed at acquiring life skills (for severe autism) and the other could have levels of interaction and maybe use PECS (mild autism).

Another question,"What are the emotional and social needs of children with Autism? Do like interacting(participation) with people or prefer just having them around(presence)?
Ans: It varies according to the child. There are some children who enjoy the warmth of human touch but cannot relate to the another person and still others who would want to interact but cannot bare to much contact. There is a difference between the willingness to interact and the inability to do so. The willingness to interact is not affected by the severity of autism.

I have more or less decided to work with 3 sensory channels- Sight, Sound, Touch. They said that stimulation should contribute towards acquiring Adaptive Skills. That I should plot sight, sound, touch on the x-axis and adaptive skills on the y-axis and plot targets accordingly. I need to look up the Catherine Morris Checklist.
A hierarchy of Adaptive skills goes as follows:
1. 7 Activities of Daily Living
2. Basic Concept Development
3. Communication of Needs and Experiences
4. Pre Academic

Using toys to trigger Speech

Parents use Puppets as intermediaries to talk and play with their child.
They say initially she would respond to the puppets and prefer to speak
to them or even to the T.V.

So here is something that suggests that toys and play help bridge a gap
and trigger interaction...