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| Social Development: Why Social Referencing and Joint Attention are Critical Skills to Teach |
| Monday, May 26, 2025 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Marriott Marquis, M4 Level, Independence D |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Eric Rozenblat (Institute for Educational Achievement) |
| Discussant: Sigmund Eldevik (Oslo Metropolitan University) |
| CE Instructor: Eric Rozenblat, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: Individuals with autism display deficits in many areas, including social development. Further, there is a vast array of research that demonstrate that social referencing and joint attention are two areas that require intervention in autistic individuals, as these skills are often not in their repertoires. Thus, teaching to both areas should be priority as early as possible in one’s development as this will help to promote the acquisition of more complex social skills in the future. There has been a vast array of behavior analytic research demonstrating that social referencing and joint attention can be taught using an operant learning paradigm. The presenters in this symposium will a.) present research on the use of effective behavioral strategies in training caregivers to promote social referencing and joint attention early in one’s development and b.) present the results on research conducted on the acquisition of social referencing as part of a behavior-chain sequence. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Target Audience: Prerequisite skills include an understanding of operant learning theory as it pertains to the acquisition of new skills. |
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe the similarities and differences between joint attention and social referencing
2. Describe the importance of social referencing and joint attention
3. Describe how a behavior chain can be used to teach social referencing |
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Remotely Coaching Caregivers to Promote Joint Attention and Social Referencing With Their Infants in Norway |
| KATERINA MONLUX (Oslo Metropolitian), Martha Pelaez (Florida International University) |
| Abstract: Deficits in social engagement are among the core diagnostic criteria observed among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In particular, joint attention and social referencing are critical skills for developing more complex social interactions and occur at a lower rate in those with autism spectrum disorder. Behavioral strategies and brief parent-infant engagement training have successfully promoted these social skills. Data will be presented, showing the acquisition of joint attention and subsequent social referencing in the natural environment, both in person and over telehealth, using caregivers as therapists. The current presentation reviews and extends previously published procedures for training joint attention modeled after Pelaez and colleagues’ (2012) operant learning paradigm with data from toddlers with an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder. A model for expanding previous findings to the natural environment with a population at a higher likelihood of qualifying for an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis due to familial history is proposed, offering new potential support. |
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| How to Teach Social Referencing: the First Component - Reacting to Novelty in the Environment |
| ANNA LUBOMIRSKA (Institute for Child Development, Poland), Sigmund Eldevik (Oslo Metropolitan University), Svein Eikeseth (Oslo Metropolitan University), Anna Budzinska (Institute for Child Development in Gdansk, Poland) |
| Abstract: Research shows that social referencing, defined as adjusting one’s behavior based on other people’s behaviors in a new or ambiguous situation, is important for other aspects of social development, e.g. creating secure attachment. as well as for early communication and language development. Persistent deficits in social communication and interaction are also related to challenging behaviors. Deficits in social referencing have been associated with autism spectrum disorders. When deficits in social referencing are detected, teaching such behaviors should be a priority, but effective teaching procedures are lacking. We consider social referencing as a behavior chain and suggest teaching each component in the chain in sequence. We introduce a program to teach the initial component of social referencing, reacting to new and missing objects in the environment through initiating interaction with another present person. Six children with autism spectrum disorder participated. All children acquired the skill within six months and generalized it to new people and materials. Future research could aim to replicate these findings and to develop effective procedures to teach other component skills of social referencing. |
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