Lynch School of Education, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Department of Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
Autism Res. 2018 May;11(5):755-765. doi: 10.1002/aur.1928. Epub 2018 Jan 22.
This study examined sequential associations between pairs of caregiver talk and caregiver-child joint engagement categories. Sequential associations quantify the extent to which one event (such as a particular type of caregiver talk) follows another event (such as a particular type of joint engagement) in a pre-specified time window, while controlling for the chance occurrence of the sequence. Although unable to support strong conclusions about causality, the requirement of sequential analysis that key events occur within a close temporal sequence rules out alternative explanation for associations that summary-level correlations cannot. We applied sequential analysis to observational data on 98 caregiver-child dyads, fifty of which included a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Groups were matched on mental age, and all were just beginning to develop spoken vocabulary. Sequential associations between supported joint engagement and caregiver follow-in utterances were stronger in ASD dyads as compared to dyads with typically developing children. Further, sequential associations between utterances related to the child's focus of attention followed by higher order supported joint engagement (HSJE) were stronger than between utterances that related to the caregiver's focus of attention and HSJE, across both groups. Finally, sequential associations between follow-in directives followed by HSJE were stronger than between follow-in comments followed by HSJE, again across both groups of children. Autism Res 2018, 11: 755-765. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Our findings suggest that caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be particularly adept at timing their talk to follow moments of high-level joint engagement, and that follow-in directives are particularly facilitative of high-level joint engagement. Future intervention work can capitalize on these findings to support high level caregiver-child engagement around toys, which may promote development in children with ASD.
本研究考察了 caregiver 谈话和 caregiver-儿童联合参与类别的成对事件之间的顺序关联。顺序关联量化了一个事件（如特定类型的 caregiver 谈话）在预定时间窗口内紧随另一个事件（如特定类型的联合参与）的程度，同时控制了序列的偶然发生。尽管无法对因果关系提供有力的结论，但顺序分析要求关键事件在紧密的时间序列内发生，这排除了对关联的替代解释，而汇总相关性无法提供这种解释。我们将顺序分析应用于 98 对 caregiver-儿童对的观察数据，其中 50 对包括自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童。组间在心理年龄上匹配，并且所有儿童都刚刚开始发展口语词汇。与具有典型发育儿童的 dyads 相比，支持性联合参与和 caregiver 后续话语之间的 ASD dyads 的顺序关联更强。此外，与 caregiver 关注焦点相关的话语之后的较高阶支持性联合参与（HSJE）的顺序关联强于与儿童关注焦点相关的话语和 HSJE 之间的顺序关联，这两个组都是如此。最后，HSJE 之后的后续指令之间的顺序关联强于 HSJE 之后的后续评论之间的顺序关联，这两个儿童组也是如此。自闭症研究 2018，11：755-765。©2018 国际自闭症研究协会，威利期刊，公司。
我们的研究结果表明，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的照顾者可能特别擅长在高水平的联合参与时刻及时调整他们的谈话，并且后续指令特别有助于高水平的联合参与。未来的干预工作可以利用这些发现来支持围绕玩具的高水平 caregiver-儿童参与，这可能会促进 ASD 儿童的发展。
