Teaching Board Games to Children with ASD | BCBA CEU | Learning | 0.5 Hour

In this presentation Dr. Justin B. Leaf describes a study conducted at the University of Kansas, with authors from Autism Partnership Foundation, on teaching board games to two children with autism spectrum disorder. The speaker reviews social deficits commonly associated with autism, including difficulties with social reciprocity and peer relationships, and notes that some individuals do not prefer to participate in social play or games. Prior research has taught toy play, pretend play, and leisure activities, but has often failed to teach structured games that require reciprocal interaction. The speaker argues that structured board games are common across households, involve rule-following, and typically require interaction with another person, thereby promoting reciprocal engagement.

A prior study by Baker (2000) taught Bingo to children with siblings and reported increases in social interaction and joint attention, but had limitations, including non-standard materials and lack of measurement of correct game play.

The current study utilized the Teaching Interaction Procedure (TIP), described as a behavioral teaching procedure involving description, rationale, cues, task analysis, modeling correct and incorrect examples, learner role-play of correct responding, reinforcement, and feedback. TIP was presented as an interactive method commonly used to teach social skills and structured game play. The presentation concludes by showing a brief video example of the Teaching Interaction Procedure in practice.