Looking at Me, Looking at You: Establishing Eye Contact and Joint Attention in Children with ASD

Course Description

This course focuses on teaching and developing eye contact and joint attention skills in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Participants will explore recent research and various procedures to enhance these crucial social communication skills.

This presentation is part of a four-part EBIC Workshop Series based on the Early Behavioural Intervention Curriculum, which serves as an intervention framework derived from functional analyses of language. Check out the "You May Also Like" section, below, for other courses in the EBIS series.

Key Topics

• Importance of eye contact in child development
• Controlling variables for establishing and maintaining eye contact
• Procedures for responding to and initiating bids for joint attention
• Developing eye contact as a reinforcer
• Strategies for following eye gaze
• Establishing others as discriminative stimuli and reinforcers

This 2-hour presentation includes video examples and resources, providing participants with practical tools for improving eye contact and joint attention in learners with ASD. The course aligns with ABA therapy principles, which are recognized as effective for enhancing social communication skills in individuals with autism.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course on eye contact and joint attention, participants will be able to:

• Describe the importance of eye contact in child development
• Identify controlling variables for establishing and maintaining eye contact
• Implement procedures for responding to and initiating joint attention
• Develop eye contact as a reinforcer
• Apply strategies for teaching following eye gaze

Who Should Attend?

• ABA professionals and therapists
• Educators working with children with ASD
• Speech and language pathologists
• Parents and caregivers of children with ASD

2 Learning CEUs Available

The workshop is designed for those who: have or are pursuing BCBA/BCaBA/RBT; teacher; therapists; and others whose role uses ABA to design & implement programming to decrease behaviours and increase skill acquisition of individuals with autism.