A Social Turn-Taking Intervention for Young Children with Autism

Principal Investigator: Kwangwon Lee
Student Researchers: Abby Bourdon, Fatima Godina, Delaney Pike

Autism is characterized by a core challenge in social communication. Children with autism often have difficulty with preverbal social communication competencies, such as joint attention and social turn taking. Social turn taking, or back-and-forth exchanges with a social intent, may be foundational to joint attention development (Lee & Schertz, 2022). The primary purpose of this study was to promote preverbal social communication outcomes in young children with autism through a social turn-taking, telehealth model of intervention that follows a developmental, caregiver-mediated approach. A secondary purpose was to understand parent acceptability of the intervention model, views of their children’s outcomes, their relationship with their children, and their own self-efficacy in supporting their children’s social communication learning.  

Publication:

• Lee, K., Godina, F., & Pike, D. (2023, March 30). A social turn-taking, parent mediated intervention for a young child with autism: Findings of a Pilot telehealth study. Early Childhood Education Journal, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-023-01467-x.

Related publications:

• Lee, K., & Schertz, H. H. (2022). Association of turn-taking functions with joint attention in toddlers with autism. Autism, 26(5), 1070-1081.
• Lee, K., & Staggs, A. (2021). Defining turn taking in intervention for young children with autism: A review of the literature. Journal of Childhood, Education & Society, 2(2), 139-153.

Video: Fatima Godina discusses what she learned from her study in a student reflection video.

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