Social interaction skills for children with autism: a script-fading procedure for nonreaders

Although children with autism often learn to answer questions and make requests, many do not initiate or pursue conversation with others. In this study, audiotaped scripts were introduced and then systematically faded to teach four boys with autism to converse with a target adult. A multiple‐probe design across participants was used to assess the number of scripted and unscripted interactions during Baseline I, Baseline II, Teaching, and Maintenance phases. The intervention procedures increased unscripted interaction and the effects were maintained for 10–92 sessions. Previous research has documented the favorable effects of fading written scripts for children with reading skills. The current investigation demonstrates the effectiveness of audiotaped scripts and script fading for children with autism who are nonreaders. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.