Autism is a neurological disorder that affects 1 in 110 children in the United States. Children with autism show deficits in the areas of language development, social skills, and behavioral and sensory functioning. One subset area of deficit involves joint attention skills. Joint attention entails the social sharing of new or novel information in the environment between two people using a gaze shift, vocalization, and/or gesture. The current research examines a behavior-analytic model suggesting that tacting is a central underlying mechanism of joint attention. Data from twenty-two participants in applied behavior-analytic instructional settings were analyzed based on relationships between tacting skills and joint attention abilities. Participants were separated into three groups based on joint attention responding and initiation skills - Joint Attention Responders (JAR), Joint Attention Initiators (JAI), and Pre-Joint Attention Participants (PJA). The tacting model suggests that the JAI group would show the highest joint attention scores, followed by the JAR group and then the PJA group. Current data support this hypothesis and also suggest potential curricular sequencing involving the earlier introduction or tacting, social and imitation skills. Further research utilizing standardized training of tacting repertoires with a larger number of children is recommended. / Psychology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/2496 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Swope, Betsy Susannah |
| Contributors | Hineline, Philip Neil, Giovannetti, Tania, Marshall, Peter J., Ellman, Lauren M., Axelrod, Saul, Tincani, Matt |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 129 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/2478, Theses and Dissertations |
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