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document
Joint attention and symbolic play in young children with autism : a randomized controlled intervention study . BACKGROUND Delays and deficits in joint attention and symbolic play constitute two important developmental problems in young children with autism . These areas of deficit have been well studied in autism but have rarely been the focus of treatment efforts ( see Kasari , Freeman , & Paparella , 2001 ) . In this study , we examine the efficacy of targeted interventions of joint attention and symbolic play . METHODS Participants were 58 children with autism aged 3 and 4 years ( 46 boys ) . Children were randomized to a joint attention intervention , a symbolic play intervention , or control group . Interventions were conducted 30 minutes daily for 5-6 weeks . Both structured assessments of joint attention and play skills and mother-child interactions were collected pre and post intervention by independent assessors . RESULTS Results indicate that both intervention groups improved significantly over the control group on certain behaviors . Children in the joint attention intervention initiated significantly more showing and responsiveness to joint attention on the structured joint attention assessment and more child-initiated joint attention in the mother-child interaction . The children in the play group showed more diverse types of symbolic play in interaction with their mothers and higher play levels on both the play assessment and in interaction with their mothers . CONCLUSIONS This randomized controlled trial provides promising data on the specificity and generalizability of joint attention and play interventions for young children with autism . Future studies need to examine the long-term effects of these early interventions on children 's development .
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Intervention_Educational
joint attention
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Intervention_Educational
symbolic play
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Intervention_Educational
joint attention intervention
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Intervention_Educational
symbolic play intervention
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Intervention_Other
or
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Intervention_Control
control group
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Intervention_Other
.
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Outcome_Mental
showing
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Outcome_Mental
responsiveness to joint attention
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Outcome_Mental
structured joint attention assessment
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Outcome_Physical
child-initiated joint attention
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Outcome_Physical
mother-child interaction .
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Outcome_Physical
types of symbolic play
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Outcome_Other
play levels
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Outcome_Physical
play assessment
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Outcome_Physical
interaction with their mothers .
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Outcome_Physical
specificity and generalizability of joint attention and play interventions
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Participant_Age
young children
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Participant_Condition
autism
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Participant_Age
young children
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Participant_Condition
autism
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Participant_Sample-size
58
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Participant_Age
children
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Participant_Condition
autism
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Participant_Age
3 and 4 years
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Participant_Sample-size
46
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Participant_Sex
boys