title: Promoting child-initiated social-communication in children with autism: Son-Rise Program intervention effects.
abstract: This study examined the effects of the Son-Rise Program (SRP), an intensive treatment aimed to improve child-initiated social communication in children with autism. Six children between the ages of 47 and 78 months were provided with 40 h of SRP, with pre- to post-treatment behavioral changes tested using a novel passive interaction probe task. Results showed an increase in the frequency of spontaneous social orienting and gestural communication for the experimental children, compared to six age- and behaviorally-matched control children with autism. In addition, for the children who received treatment, the duration of social dyadic interactions and total time spent engaged in social interaction increased from pre- to post-treatment. These findings suggest that intensive intervention focused on fostering child-initiated interaction increases social-communicative behaviors in children with autism.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Readers will be able to describe the principles underlying the Son-Rise Program, a developmental approach to treatment for autism. Readers will be able to explain the methods of the investigation of a 5-day intensive Son-Rise Program and the results that report change in social communication in children with autism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Fylde College, Lancaster LA1 4YF, United Kingdom. Electronic address: kathoughton@taconic.net.
authors.forename: Kat
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Houghton
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schuchard
authors.forename: Charlie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Cynthia K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D004519:Education, Special; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012919:Social Behavior; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Autism; Joint attention; Social communication; Son-Rise Program; Treatment