DEVELOPMENTAL INTERVENTIONS

Developmental interventions focus on supporting children's learning through interactions with other people, particularly caregivers. These interventions target skills that are either delayed or not apparent in children on the autism spectrum, but that are assumed to be critical to learning.

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Developmental interventions are often described as being ‘child-led’, because they use children’s intrinsic motivation to communicate, and ‘naturalistic’, because of the contexts in which they are delivered. Common techniques include modelling words and actions, imitating the child’s actions to give them meaning, and using personal strategies (eg. pausing, expectant looking) and environmental strategies (eg. placing toys out of reach) to motivate communication.