The Efficacy of Responsive Teaching (RT) Program on social interaction skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

In this study, the effectiveness of the Interaction-Based Early Childhood Intervention Program called Responsive Teaching (RT) on the social interaction skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was investigated. The study was conducted with three children with ASD and their mothers. In terms of the gender of the participant children, one of them is girl, while the other two are boys. The age of the first participant child is 6 as of the starting date of the study, the second participant child is 4 years old, and the third participant child is 3 years and 2 months old. The ages of the participant mothers are between 33 and 35 years. The applications of this study were performed at the research and application centre opened for children with special needs at a state university in Ankara and in an institution which a participant child attends (private special education and rehabilitation centre). The follow-up sessions of the study were held in the houses of the participants, in their natural environment. In the study, the effect of the RT on the social interaction skills of the child participants was collected using the pre-application, during application and post-application observation data by incorporating the inter-subject multiple baseline design among single subject experimental patterns. The applications of the study were completed in 4 stages. These stages consist of determining the starting levels of the participants, the implementation of the RT, post RT assessment and follow-up. As a result of the study, advancements were determined in the social interaction skills of the children.