Start Here | Join Their World: Connecting with Your Autistic Child (English)

~ by Annie Jones Free help for parents raising an autistic child. A simple routine you can start this week. In this video: how to connect with your child by joining their world. A routine called Together Time. Fifteen minutes, three times a week. Start Here is a video series from ABA World, in your language. Free. Subscribe so the next one finds you. All the English videos: abaworld.org/english Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ6hSxXQWYo4 CHAPTERS 0:00 Start here 0:15 Go into their world 0:45 Choose a time, a place, a name 1:30 Pack the bag 1:55 The ten minutes 3:00 Expect it to take time WHERE THIS COMES FROM The strategies presented come from published behavior-analytic research. Written by Loukia Tsami, MA, BCBA, LBA, and drawn from research published in peer-reviewed journals. Following the child's lead, rather than directing the child. Schreibman et al. (2015), Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Dawson et al. (2010), Pediatrics. Play as the place where shared attention is built. Kasari, Freeman and Paparella (2006), Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Time with a trusted adult and preferred items, with nothing asked of the child. Guinness and Feil (2025), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Ensor, Burnham Riosa and Yu (2024), Behavioral Interventions. Warm attention given freely, rather than earned. Vollmer, Iwata, Zarcone, Smith and Mazaleski (1993), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Copying what the child does. Ingersoll and Schreibman (2006), Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. The child being free to leave at any moment. Rajaraman et al. (2022), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Full citations with links: abaworld.org/start-here THE PRESENTER Annie Jones holds a BS in Applied Behavior Analysis from Purdue University and is a third-year graduate student in Behavior Analysis at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She is the vocational coordinator at the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, where she helps autistic adults build the skills that lead to work. She volunteers with ABA World as an Autism Ally. COMMON QUESTIONS My child leaves after two minutes. That still counts. End there and try again next time. The minutes grow on their own. My child ignores me the whole time. Keep going. Sitting with them without asking for anything is the work itself. Can I use the tablet, since that is what my child loves? Keep screens out of these ten minutes. A screen holds your child instead of you. My child dislikes being touched. Skip the hand. Walk beside them, or sit with them where they already are. Can someone else do it instead of me? Yes. One adult at a time, and keep it the same adult for the first weeks. What if I miss a day? Do the next one. Three times a week matters more than which days. How long before I see something? Some families see a change in a week. Others take a month or more. Both are normal. Should I record it? You can note how many minutes your child stayed. Do whatever feels right for you. THIS VIDEO IN OTHER LANGUAGES Videos in other languages As each one is published: abaworld.org/start-here ABA World is a nonprofit organization. abaworld.org #autism #parenting #ABAWorld