Open AccessTeaching Children With Autism to Initiate Social Interactions Using Textual Prompts Delivered via Apple Watches®
Author(s) -
Alithza R Lopez,
Katie M. Wiskow
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
behavior analysis in practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2196-8934
pISSN - 1998-1929
DOI - 10.1007/s40617-019-00385-y
Subject(s) - autism , autism spectrum disorder , psychology , social skills , social communication , typically developing , developmental psychology , social behavior
Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often engage in low levels of peer social interactions; therefore, we often need to explicitly teach these skills. In the current study, we implemented a combined tactile and textual prompt, delivered via a text message sent to an Apple Watch ® , to prompt social initiations from children with ASD to peers during free play. Results showed that the text message prompts increased the frequency of independent social initiations for both participants. Furthermore, 1 participant continued to emit high levels of independent social initiations during a 1-month follow-up with no prompts.