ERIC Number: EJ1462987
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Apr
Pages: 30
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1056-263X
EISSN: EISSN-1573-3580
Available Date: 2024-03-08
Teaching Siblings to Encourage and Praise Play: Supporting Interactions When One Sibling Is Autistic
Holly R. Weisberg1,2; Christina M. Alaimo1,2,3; Emily A. Jones1,2
Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, v37 n2 p291-320 2025
Sibling relationships may be strained when one sibling is diagnosed with autism and the other is not. The way that siblings interact during play is one indicator of the quality of this relationship. Non-autistic siblings have been taught to encourage play in their autistic siblings, but there is limited literature examining the impact of intervention on the quality of the siblings' relationships. In this study, we taught four non-autistic siblings to encourage and praise play with their autistic siblings as well as self-monitor those play skills. We also measured changes in social-communicative behaviors during siblings' interactions. All non-autistic siblings learned the targeted play skills and the majority increased social-communicative behaviors. Only one autistic child increased their social-communicative behaviors toward their non-autistic sibling. On average, sibling dyads engaged in more interactions, with an increase in the duration of interactions during play. Future sibling intervention research should evaluate child characteristics and intervention factors that may influence children's response to intervention, additional interventions, and continue to incorporate other measures of relationship quality.
Descriptors: Siblings, Sibling Relationship, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Play, Positive Reinforcement, Self Management, Children, Communication Skills, Child Behavior
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), Department of Psychology, Queens, USA; 2City University of New York (CUNY), The Graduate Center, Queens, USA; 3SUNY Upstate Medical University, Department of Pediatrics / Golisano Center for Special Needs, New York, USA