Alleiah Keeley

Engagement Research Synthesis

1
Citation Participants Research Design
Length of
Intervention
Independent Variable Dependent Variable Instruments Results
DiCarlo, C.,
Stricklin, S., &
Reid, D. (2006).
Increasing toy
play amoung
toddlers with and
without
disabilities by
modifying the
structural quality
of the classroom
environment
. NHSA
Dialog, 9(1), 49-
62.


9 children ages
18-36 months in
an Early Head
Start center

Mix of typically
developing
children and
children eligible
for special
education

All African
American
Multiple baseline
design across 3
classrooms
Classroom 1-
9 Observation
Sessions

Classroom 2-
8 Observation
Sessions

Classroom 3-
11
Observation
Sessions
Environmental modification:
materials added to the classroom,
grouping of the materials and
arrangement of the space.

Baseline data was collected by
observing the 9 children during their
free time period in the morning
using a 15 second rotation among
the targeted children in each
classroom.

Each classroom was then modified
using the Infant/Toddler
Environmental Rating Scale
recommendations

Data was collected the same way
again to test the rearrangement for
increasing engagement.
Engagement- the
manipulation of toys
in the manner in
which the materials
were intended to be
used.
Infant/Toddler
Environment
Rating Scale,
Assessment Profile
for Early
Childhood
Programs,
NAEYC
Classroom
Observation

All nine of
the children
showed an
increase of
engagement
Mastery Play
increased
from 22%-
70%
Garfinkle, A., &
Schwartz, I.
(2002). Peer
imitation:
Increasing social
interactions in
children with
autism and other
developmental
disabilities in
inclusive
preschool
programs. Topics
in Early
Childhood
Special
Education, 22(1)
, 26-38.



4 young boys
ages 3.7-5.5
years enrolled in
a university
affiliated
preschool
Multiple
Baseline Design
across 4
participants (3
Autism, 1
developmental
delay)
5 Months Small-group peer imitation training

Baseline data was collected for 4
sessions observing each childs
behavior in small group time and
free play

No changes were made in the
curriculum or structure of the day

Small group time consisted of the
same 4 to 5 children everyday and
an assistant teacher. Materials were
given to the children and assistant
teacher modeled how to use the
materials. This time lasted for 15
minutes.

Free play consisted of small groups
in which the children could chose
from 6 different centers.
Imitation and Social
Interactions
Operational
definitions of
interactions

Operational
definitions for
imitation
Each member
of the target
group of
children
showed an
increase in
peer
interaction
and imitation
Alleiah Keeley
Engagement Research Synthesis

2
Citation Participants Research Design
Length of
Intervention
Independent Variable Dependent Variable Instruments Results

Peer imitation training- During
small group the teacher said,
Today kids we are going to have
turns being leaders. When you are
the leader you can (the teacher
named some possible appropriate
uses for the given materials). When
youre not the leader you can do
what the leader is doing.
Teacher gave prompts to promote
imitation.
Teacher gave praise when a child
imitated the leader.

No prompts were given during free
play and the target children were
observed to test for generalization


Kasari, C.,
Gulsrud, A.,
Wong, C.,
Kwon, S., &
Locke, J. (2010).
Randomized
controlled
caregiver
mediated joint
engagement
intervention for
toddlers with
autism. Journal
of Autism
Developmental
Deisorder, 2010(
40), 1045-1056.


19 Children
diagnosed with
autism less than
36 months
Randomized wait
list control
design
24 caregiver
mediated
sessions with
a follow up a
year later
Caregiver mediated joint
engagement intervention
Baseline data was collected by
assessing the children with the
Mullen Scales of Early Learning
and observing caregiver and child
playing with a standard set of toys
for fifteen minutes
Caregivers were taught the
intervention strategy using 10
modules using coaching to each
caregiver individually by a trained
interventionist.
Intervention included
developmental procedures of
responsive teaching and applied
behavior analysis.
Caregivers followed their childs
lead and interests, imitating the
childs actions, expanding on what
the child said, repeating back what
Joint attention
behavior- eye contact,
smiles and gestures
Mullen Scales of
Early Learning

Likert scale to test
caregiver fidelity
of intervention
implementation
Caregivers
that
implemented
the
intervention
with a high
degree of
fidelity and
helped their
toddlers more
from primary
object-
focused
engagement
to increased
levels of joint
engagement
between
people and
objects.
Alleiah Keeley
Engagement Research Synthesis

3
Citation Participants Research Design
Length of
Intervention
Independent Variable Dependent Variable Instruments Results
the child said, giving corrective
feedback, sitting close to the child
and making eye contact and making
environmental changes to increase
the childs engagement.

Cardona, M.,
Martinez, A., &
Hinojosa, J.
(2000).
Effectiveness of
using a computer
to improve
attention to
visual analysis
activities of five
preschool
children with
disabilities. Occu
pational Therapy
International, 7(
1), 42-56.


5 participants 3-5
years old all in a
special education
preschool
program all
diagnosed with
speech and other
developmental
delays and
assessed and
proven to have
attention
difficulties
Single subject
ABA reversal
design
5 Sessions Computer activity intervention

Baseline data was collected over a
four sessions of fine motor activities

Intervention- children were able to
play games on the computer that
required shape recognition (Baileys
House, Millie Math House, Kid Pix)

Last phase included returning to the
baseline of four fine motor activities
same as the activities in the initial
baseline.
Attending behavior or
the childs ability to
attend a task
measured by direct
observation of three
variables: visual
attention to task
(operationally defined
as a child maintained
direct eye contact on
the task in a session),
sitting tolerance (the
total amount of time
in seconds the child
remained seated to
perform the task,
from the initiation of
the task until he/she
abandoned their seat)
and number of
distractions (the
number of time the
child did not attend to
the task by either
looking away or
talking about
unrelated issue)
Computer,
computer programs
Non-standardized
screening tools for
attention
difficulties
Improvement
in level of
visual
attention and
decrease in
distractibility
in each
participant as
well as visual
attention
Krstovska-
Guerrero, I., &
Jones, E. (2012).
Joint attention in
autism: Teaching
smiling
coordinated with
gaze to respond
3 2-4 year old
children with
autism
Multiple baseline
probe design
across behaviors,
full prompt,
partial prompt,
time delay


10 sessions 1-
3 days per
week
Response Joint Attention
Intervention
Intervention began with teaching
one expression of positive affect,
smiling, in response to the spoken
instruction, smile. The
interventionist then used this spoken
instruction to prompt smiling in
Joint attention and
affect
Three response
topographies- Smile
(child smiling with
the corners of the
mouth turned up for
at least 1 second
Early
Communication
Scale,
Pervasive
Developmental
Disorder Behavior
Inventory,
Childhood Autism
All three
children were
able to gaze,
shift, smile
and smile and
continued to
maintain their
skills at the
Alleiah Keeley
Engagement Research Synthesis

4
Citation Participants Research Design
Length of
Intervention
Independent Variable Dependent Variable Instruments Results
to joint attention
bids. Research in
Autism Spectrum
Disorders, 2013(
7), 93-108. doi:
10.1016

coordination with looking at the
object of JA and shifting gaze in
response to JA instructions. Each
session included 10 JA instruction
opportunities
Depending on the childs response
the adult would give a certain
prompt (see article for full details)
within 4 seconds of
the adults verbal
instruction smile!),
Look and Smile
(child directing
his/her gaze to the
target object, placed
within 1.5m in the
childs visual field,
and smiling within 4s
of the adults JA
instruction (the adult
turned and looked at
the target object,
pointed at the object,
and spoke a 1-4 word
comment about the
object wow its
Elmo!),
Gaze, shift and smile
(child shifting their
gaze coordinating
with eye contact and
smiling within 4s of
the adults
JA instruction)
Rating Scale,
Early Child Social
Communication
Scales,
Social Validity
Measure
follow-up
Isaksen, J., &
Holth, P. (2009).
An operant
approach to
teaching joint
attention skills to
children with
autism.Behavior
al
Interventions, 20
09(24), 215-236.
doi:
10.1002/bin.292

4 all children
enrolled in
fulltime
kindergarten for
typically
developing
children, has an
autism diagnoses
and receives an
intense
behavioral
treatment
Multiple baseline
design across
children
1 hour each
day for 30
days
Operant conditioning (Establishing
adult social responses as
conditioned reinforcers for childs
behavior)- Three phases
1. Teaching children to
respond to joint attention
bids
2. Trials aimed at the
establishment of normal
conditioned reinforcers,
such as other people
smiling and nodding
3. Children were taught turn
taking in JA, they had to
respond to and initiate JA
Joint attention-
mastery level
included taking turns
initiating and
responding to
something of interest
with the target adult
Behavioral
assessment of joint
attention
(MacDonald et al.,
2006),
All childs
scores were
higher on the
BAJA
assessment
RJA portion
of the
assessment
scores were
higher
Alleiah Keeley
Engagement Research Synthesis

5
Citation Participants Research Design
Length of
Intervention
Independent Variable Dependent Variable Instruments Results
(Specific details in article)

Citation Data Collection Fidelity Strengths Weaknesses Usability Overall Rating
DiCarlo, C., Stricklin, S., &
Reid, D. (2006). Increasing toy
play among toddlers with and
without disabilities by
modifying the structural
quality of the classroom
environment . NHSA
Dialog, 9(1), 49-62.

15s time sampling
rotation between
children during each
10 minutes period
during free choice
time
No mention in
article
Child showed a large
increase in
engagement with the
toys in the classroom
Very expensive, small
sample size, very
similar participants
Can be very usable if
funds are available to
modify the classroom
****
Garfinkle, A., & Schwartz, I.
(2002). Peer imitation:
Increasing social interactions
in children with autism and
other developmental
disabilities in inclusive
preschool programs. Topics in
Early Childhood Special
Education, 22(1), 26-38.

Data collected
during a 15 minute
small group activity
(free play for
generalization), data
was collected on
how many and what
type of interaction
occurred in the 15
minute small group
time
Teachers were
supervised by the
author to ensure
the intervention
was being
implemented as
planned
Interobserver
agreement, children
displayed a large
increase of peer
interaction and
imitation, easily
implemented in a
classroom
Requires a group of
children, including
peer models, requires a
specific schedule
Easily implemented
with a group of
children, cannot be
implemented in a
home based
environment
****
Kasari, C., Gulsrud, A., Wong,
C., Kwon, S., & Locke, J.
(2010). Randomized
controlled caregiver mediated
joint engagement intervention
for toddlers with
autism. Journal of Autism
Developmental
Deisorder, 2010(40), 1045-
1056.
15 minute video
taped observation
coded for JA
behaviors based on
scale
Depends on
caregiver
Large sample size,
natural environment,
caregiver
implemented, coaching
and modeling,
caregiver education
Low caregiver
intervention fidelity,
A lot of caregiver
training involved but
worth it if the
caregiver is willing to
make commitment to
fidelity
***
Cardona, M., Martinez, A., &
Hinojosa, J. (2000).
Effectiveness of using a
computer to improve attention
to visual analysis activities of
five preschool children with
disabilities. Occupational
Therapy International, 7(1),
Evaluated by visual
analysis and
comparing mean
levels per phase
No mention Increased childrens on
tasks behavior while
on the computer
Expensive materials,
children more
interested in computer
than fine motor
activity may have
skewed results
Low, need computer
and computer software
**
Alleiah Keeley
Engagement Research Synthesis

6
Citation Data Collection Fidelity Strengths Weaknesses Usability Overall Rating
42-56.

Krstovska-Guerrero, I., &
Jones, E. (2012). Joint
attention in autism: Teaching
smiling coordinated with gaze
to respond to joint attention
bids. Research in Autism
Spectrum Disorders, 2013(7),
93-108. doi: 10.1016

Successful
completion of each
target behavior was
recorded after a JA
prompt was given
An intervention
integrity data
sheet was used to
ensure the
fidelity of the
intervention
Child showed an
increase in IJA and
RJA behaviors as well
as scored lower on the
Autism characteristics
assessment
Very well articulated
intervention steps
found within the article
Is smiling really a
meaningful thing to
learn?
Very usable ***
Isaksen, J., & Holth, P. (2009).
An operant approach to
teaching joint attention skills
to children with
autism.Behavioral
Interventions, 2009(24), 215-
236. doi: 10.1002/bin.292

Behavioral
assessment of joint
attention
(MacDonald et al.,
2006) was used in
baseline and after
intervention to
evaluate the
outcome of the joint
attention training
Each child went
through the same
exact steps within
their intervention
time
Assessment to measure
success (same measure
used in baseline),
Children showed a
large increase in IJA
and RJA behaviors
Lots of training time,
lots of time required
with the child
Requires 30 hours of
training a week, better
for a classroom based
setting in order to
ensure enough time for
intense training.
Steps could be taught
to parents but fidelity
of the intervention may
not be as strong
****