The Effect of intensive Interaction training on decreasing Challenging Behaviors and Increasing Social Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of training the method of intensive interaction on reducing challenging behaviors and increasing social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder in the Center of Autism in Tehran city during 2017-18.

The research method was a single-subject single baseline (A-B-A-B) and several types of therapies. The sample size consisted of 5 children aged 5 - 8 years with autism spectrum disorder who were selected randomly from among 36 non-randomized individuals. Who the 22 sessions of the first three bases, 8 sessions of the Ulf treatment line, the three bases of the second baseline and 8 sessions of the second medication intervention,each partricipant was subjected to an intensive interaction method. Data were collected using observation questionnaire, Jelili Challenging Behavioral Questionnaire (2007) and Social Communication Skills Questionnaire (SCQ) by Rutter et al. (2003).

The results showed that the effect size in the variable of challenging behaviors in the first subject was 1.26, the second one, 1.33, the third one, 0.49, the fourth one, 1.83, and the fifth one, .0.71. The effect size of social skills variable in the first subject was 0.55, the second one 0.99, the third one 0.74, the fourth subject 76.0 and the fifth subject 1.03. The effect size of the subjects was between 0.41 and 2.7% showing that the method of intensive interaction had a significant effect on the challenging and social skills of children in the autism spectrum. It was also revealed that the effect size in eye contact, touch, and solitary involvement in the five subjects ranged from 0.41 to 2.7, indicating the effect of the all-encompassing method on the mentioned components.

Considering the impact of this type of intervention, it is suggested that educators and specialists use the method of intensive interaction to improve challenging behaviors and increase social skills in children with autism spectrum.