Parent-Mediated Eye Gaze Intervention in Young Autistic Children: ADOS-BOSCC Outcome Study

Abstract This study investigated the generalisation of a brief parent-mediated eye gaze intervention outcome across communication partners and different aspects of social behaviour in preschool-aged autistic children. ADOS-BOSCC change scores were compared between intervention and control groups in the short-term and long-term, showing no significant differences in domain-level changes. Item-level findings indicate that intervention showed generalisation of eye gaze across communication partners in the semi-structured researcher-child interaction after the intervention. Interestingly, the intervention seemed to partly alter the course of generalisation development in gestures and integration of vocal and non-vocal communication. Intervention temporarily slowed the progress in these areas, as evidenced in the control group’s greater improvement in the short-term. However, in the long-term, the intervention group achieved the same level as the control group in the gestures and integration. Overall, results indicate that parent-mediated interventions can facilitate the generalisation of children’s learning in targeted social skills across different contexts.