title: Efficacy of caregiver-mediated joint engagement intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: Joint attention intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders was focused on improving joint engagement and joint attention skills. The purpose of this study was to develop a caregiver-mediated joint engagement intervention program combined with body movement play to investigate the effects of joint engagement/joint attention skills in young children with autism spectrum disorders. A quasi-experimental research design was conducted. A total of 34 young children with autism spectrum disorders aged 2-4 years were separated into an intervention and a control group. The program consisted of 20 sessions, 60 min per session, twice a week, for the target child and his or her parent. The results indicated that child-initiated supportive and coordinated joint engagement was greater for the intervention group compared with the control group at 3-month follow-up. This demonstrated that our joint engagement intervention could enhance joint engagement, especially coordinated joint engagement for young children with autism spectrum disorders. The limitations of the study and future directions were discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, National Chengchi University, Taiwan Research Center for Mind, Brain and Learning, National Chengchi University, Taiwan chchiang@nccu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Chung-Hsin
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Lin
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, National Chengchi University, Taiwan MA Program of Counseling and Guidance, National Chengchi University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tsung-Chin
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: autism spectrum disorders; caregiver-mediated intervention; joint attention; joint engagement