2025 International Inclusion Institute

The Early Communication Indicator for Autism (ECI-A), an adaptation of the original ECI, is a naturalistic, play-based measure designed to assess and monitor communication trajectories in autistic children aged 12–60 months. The presentation will include an overview of administration and scoring of the ECI-A, as well as ideas for using the ECI-A in practice and data from a recent study. It will include interactive components, such as examples from real parent-child interaction videos and opportunities for participant engagement and discussion. Attendees will gain knowledge about the ECI-A’s capacity to capture communication behaviors (e.g., gestures, vocalizations, speech, directed communication, joint attention) and track child progress, along with information about available ECI-A training opportunities. 

“Stay-Play-Talk" is a peer-mediated intervention that has been shown to have beneficial impacts on social communication skills for autistic children.  This session will review strategies from Stay-Play-Talk to help peers be responsive play and communication partners. We will describe clinical applications for its use with autistic children with limited or no spoken language who are learning to use a speech-generating device to augment speech. The presentation will include video examples and practical tips for implementing peer-mediated interventions in real-world settings.

This session features parents of young children with autism who share their perspectives on receiving early intervention support designed to enhance their ability to foster their children's participation in everyday routines. Activities such as toothbrushing, dressing, going to the park, and mealtimes are often impacted when young children experience differences in social and communication development. Parents in this session will share their experiences and impressions of how helpful it is when early intervention supports focus on bolstering their children's learning outside of play routines. 

This session will focus on addressing interfering behaviors as part of early intervention services. We will describe the development process of freely available online modules to support EI providers to use a caregiver coaching model as part of their service to empower caregivers to use evidence-based practices (EBPs) in daily routines and activities. The module focused on addressing toddler's interfering behaviors will be described with video examples and case studies so that participants can explore how to use the module and its resources as part of their practice. The module format (including planning, using, and monitoring progress) will be outlined and user data related to EBP knowledge and module usefulness will be presented. Finally, participants will develop an action plan to apply what they learned in their own work.