Autism is a rare, severe developmental disorder that appears before three or four years of age. To this day there is still no known cause or cure for this disorder. One of the most notable problems that arise with autistic individuals is their inability to relate to other people. Characteristics of their lack of social skills surface at a very young age. Examples of this include how autistic babies do not smile and rarely reach out to their parents. Autistic children grow up in their own universe, oblivious to the world around them. Because of this, children with autism may view and understand the world in a different way (Ruffman, Garnham, & Rideout, 2001). .
One of the reasons why an autistic child may not interact well with others is because their different' behaviors may intimidate or discourage others around them. Abnormal language, insistence of non-changing environments, unusual repeated movements, and negativisms are the more common behaviors an autistic child may portray. The research articles/studies I have chosen wish to improve some, if not all, of these non-sociable behaviors by means of behavior modification, with hopes of having a generalization effect to other non-target behaviors.
Children with autism tend not to look to others' faces to share attention or engage in gaze,"" says Throp, Stahmer, & Schreibman (1995). This could be a reason why autistic children are not very social. Perhaps, suggest Throp, Stahmer, & Schreibman (1995), language provides children with the tools for expressing themselves. If an autistic child is not provided with the proper tools while developing, they will be unable to express themselves as normally developed children do in interactions with others. .
There was a future suggestion made by Kamps (1992) suggested that, "There remains a need to examine the quality of interactions, the effects of social skills programs longitudinally, and generalization of skills-.
