The effectiveness of incidental teaching in initiating communication to children with autism spectrum disorder: The Azerbaijan sample

Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of incidental teaching in teaching initiating communication skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. The study also examined whether the participants maintained the acquired skill 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the intervention and whether they generalized it to different people, environments, and materials. In addition, the views of the participants' parents on the importance of the target behavior, the acceptability of the intervention used, and the significance of the results. Method: This study employed a multiple-probe design with probe trials across participants, one of the single-case experimental. The study's dependent variable was communication initiation, and the independent variable was incidental teaching. Three boys diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, aged 2–3, living in Azerbaijan, participated in the study. The experimental process of the study consisted of baseline, intervention, follow-up, and generalization sessions. Follow-up sessions were conducted 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the intervention sessions, generalization pre-test sessions were conducted just before the intervention condition, and generalization post-test sessions were conducted just after the completion of the intervention. Interobserver reliability and treatment integrity data were collected for at least 30% of all sessions for each condition and participant, and both reliability data were found to be high. Results: The findings demonstrated that incidental teaching was effective in teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to initiate communication, maintain the acquired skill 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the intervention, and generalize the target behavior to different settings, people, and materials. The social validity findings determined based on the views of the parents are also positive. The parents stated that the target behavior 4 was essential and meaningful for the children's daily lives, and the intervention was acceptable but required expertise, the behavior was generalized to natural environments, and the behavior change reduced problem behaviors. Conclusion and Suggestions: It has been determined that incidental teaching is effective in teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to initiate communication. Incidental teaching can be used effectively and efficiently in teaching both nonverbal and verbal communication skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. Therefore, in future studies, the effect of incidental teaching on teaching different skills to children with autism spectrum disorder by parents in natural settings can be examined. Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, Incidental teaching, Communication initiation.