Caregiver Strategies for Building Infant Social Interaction

Laurie A. Vismara, Ph.D., BCBA-D, R.B.A. (Ont.) details caregiver strategies for building infant social interaction. She introduces the Infant Start Manual, an extension of the Early Start Denver Model. The speaker outlines contemporary research on early-in-life autism support strategies and underscores the need for collaborative, family-centered support tactics for parents and caregivers. Vismara details six (6) infant learning characteristics, how they present, and what caregivers can do to foster these social communication skills during infancy.

Handouts are online HERE (.zip)

In this webinar: 

1:30 – Introduction
6:10 – Infant Start Manual
11:40 – Research findings
17:55 – Infant learning characteristics
20:25 – Attentional flexibility
27:10 – Object use
33:00 – Prelinguistic development
36:55 – Combined, pragmatic communication
42:25 – Speech
47:30 – Social attention and engagement
54:20 – Tips for baby learning
58:00 – Resources

Introduction

Vismara introduces the Infant Start Manual, an extension of the Early Start Denver Model that focuses on infant social interactions (1:30). She highlights the need for innovative, flexible approaches to support strategies that match the needs, goals, and priorities of parents and caregivers. The speaker outlines specific language used in the talk and notes presentation learning objectives (4:20). The vision of the Infant Start Manual is to facilitate families in their caregiving journey with interactive early-in-life topics aimed at infant social communication vulnerabilities (6:10). The manual provides supports through family-centered coaching and does not substitute for a diagnosis, fix, or cure. The Infant Start Model can be accessed freely at esdmonline.com/about in the Encouraging Infant Communication and Play Manual (Rogers & Vismara). Free access is for personal use only and should not be posted online. 

What the research says

Research on the efficacy of early-in-life autism supports is still emerging. Studies show mixed results across high (10-15 hrs/week) and low-intensity (0.5 – 3 hrs/week) supports delivered by parents and clinicians. All studies aim to teach caregiving skills for social and joint engagement through play and other activities. Results show improvements in caregiving domains, infant proximal behaviors, and interactive styles for caregivers. In contrast, infant autism domains show minimal changes (13:00). One pilot study of the Infant Start has been published. Overall, caregivers shared positive perspectives on content and delivery techniques, and infant vulnerability around social characteristics diminished over time compared to families that did not participate (11:40). 

Vismara posits that the cumulative benefits of small initial changes in interaction become more apparent over time, meaning the full impact of these interventions cannot yet be measured. However, these studies provide an opportunity to understand the acceptability of these support mechanisms from diverse caregiver perspectives, which will allow for the creation of individualized, culturally aligned support systems (15:00). 

Autism Treatment in the First Year of Life: A Pilot Study of Infant Start, a Parent-Implemented Intervention for Symptomatic Infants (Rogers et al., 2014)

Autistic and autism community perspectives on infant and family support in the first two years of life: Findings from a community consultation survey (Bent et al., 2024)

A Developmental Social Neuroscience Perspective on Infant Autism Interventions (Dawson et al., 2023)

Feasibility and acceptability of a caregiver-mediated early support program, delivered online, for infants at elevated familial likelihood for autism: A feasibility randomized controlled trial (Meera et al., 2024)

The Earlier, the Better? An In-Depth Interview Study on the Ethics of Early Detection with Parents of Children at an Elevated Likelihood for Autism (Jan-Vanaken et al., 2023)

Preemptive interventions for infants and toddlers with a high likelihood for autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Hampton et al., 2021)

Efficacy of very early interventions on neurodevelopmental outcomes for infants and toddlers at increased likelihood of or diagnosed with autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis (McGlade et al., 2023)

Parent-Mediated Interventions for Infants under 24 Months at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials (Law et al., 2022)

Infant learning characteristics

The presenter emphasizes that babies come ready to explore, learn, and respond just as caregivers have intuitive skills to nurture, love, and protect. Both shape and influence the others’ actions, resulting in a communication “dance” of synchronized rhythmic steps and movements. No matter who is leading, both sides must be aware of the other and sensitive to each other’s movements and what they mean (17:55). When there is a “misstep,” the dance may stop, and working to regain that attention and engagement is where the Early Start Manual comes in. Vismara outlines six (6) infant learning characteristics, how they present in infants, and how to strengthen caregiver-baby social interactions. 

Attentional flexibility

Attentional flexibility refers to babies’ ability to pay attention to people, objects, and experiences that they find interesting, even when there are distractions. Babies do this when they pick up and explore objects, move from one toy to the next, watch people doing things, or shift focus when something new is introduced (20:25). Attentional flexibility helps babies gather information, build on their learning experiences, and filter out distractions to stay on task.

The speaker provides play recommendations for supporting attentional flexibility (23:15). She suggests offering toys or materials that encourage exploration and interactive play. Holding pieces to your face and naming or commenting about them before you give them to the baby can help them orient your voice to your face. She suggests helping babies complete goals, adding playful sounds, hand gestures, or body movements to help call attention back to you, and giving babies choices for which objects they want to play with (25:15). 

Object use

Babies are naturally curious about objects, and playing with them allows them to explore, try out new behaviors, express ideas, and receive feedback. Vismara explains that babies develop play through patterns of repeated actions, called schemas, which are constantly changing and overlapping (27:10). During play, she suggests taking turns with the same object(s) to create a back-and-forth dance (baby does, you do – repeat) which encourages skill adoption and lets babies know that you are part of the activity/conversation. It is also helpful to be face-to-face during play, to set up toys and spaces in visually clear ways that are not over-stimulating, and to follow babies’ play before leading with your own (29:10). The speaker provides a resource table with play schema definitions and ideas (31:20).

Prelinguistic development

Vismara explains that baby communication begins with crying, which lets caregivers know the baby is hungry, uncomfortable, or upset. This quickly develops into “talking bodies” communication, where babies use their facial expressions, bodies, actions, and gestures to communicate in many different ways (33:00). We chat back to babies when we name and describe things, hold or point to things, copy sounds and expressions, and add silly sounds, hand gestures, or movements to play routines.

To support prelinguistic development, the speaker again suggests playing face-to-face with the baby and talking about everything. Describe what you are doing as you go through routines and make your own “talking body” stand out to babies with playful sounds and exaggerated facial expressions and movements (34:15). It is important to give babies time to respond and for you to put words to their communication methods (35:35). The presenter shows a resource table with activity ideas for strengthening talking bodies.

 Combined, pragmatic communication

Bundling communication behaviors is a critical step in the infant communication journey. Combining face, body, and voice makes communication more efficient and complex, allowing for information retention, skill expansion, and relationship building. Caregivers naturally encourage bundling when we model back-and-forth conversations with babies. For example, when a baby smiles and makes a sound, a caregiver can comment on what excited them (36:55). Vismara suggests giving babies time to think of what they want to say and going with the communication methods that the baby is naturally using. The speaker suggests starting with any two bundles (voice and body, face and voice, etc.) and being flexible, remembering you can always try again later. She warns against holding out for specific communication bundles and underscores working with the babies’ strengths (39:30). The speaker provides another resource table on encouraging bundling through daily routines. 

Speech

Baby babbling is a universal aspect of early speech development that unfolds across several stages and serves as a stepping stone to first words. Babbling is a continuous string of sounds that express babies’ emotions and desire to talk. They often mimic words and language qualities such as tone, pitch, and accent (42:25). To support speech development, Vismara suggests talking to babies and then pausing for them to listen and respond. It’s essential to interpret the intent of what babies say and to keep the conversation going as long as they wish to babble. Helpful tips include mouthing games, imitating baby, and using props to encourage sounds (44:45). The presenter shares a resource table with activities that encourage baby sounds and potential props that you can use to promote conversations. 

Social attention and engagement

Human beings are born with the need and desire to connect with the people around us. We can see this social-emotional connection through babies’ visual attention to people, desire for attention, and drive to start interactions (47:30). Early signs of the social-emotional journey include turning toward familiar faces, turning away when overwhelmed, following faces or objects, and responding to people in their environment. Caregivers can foster this bonding by pausing an activity to cue a response from the baby. For example, hold out a toy, show the play action, and wait for baby to say, “I like this, do it again” (reach, look, smile, move body, make sound) (50:00). 

The speaker reminds viewers to respect babies’ preferences and that it may take some detective work to find their comfort zone inside activities. It helps to repeat your actions when babies are watching and read their cues for what makes them smile. Tips for finding their comfort zone include changing movement pace, adjusting voice and animation, and moving closer or backing up until they feel comfortable. Once you find their smile, create a predictable routine for setting up the fun and pausing for a reaction from the baby before continuing the action (51:15). 

Tips for baby learning

The presenter reminds viewers to build on babies’ interests and experiences with other ideas only after you can follow their play patterns. Building on their preferences can include showing different ways to play with their favorite toys, increasing interaction, and introducing new toys and songs they may like. She notes that not all ideas are winners on the first try but that bridging their interests with new ideas will create understanding and participation through which their skills can expand. Vismara underscores the importance of active play and urges caregivers to expand their involvement in baby interactions (54:20). 

The speaker reiterates that the Infant Start Model is about supporting families with programs and resources that build off of dynamic, authentic early learning experiences. She asserts the need for researchers, families, and clinicians to think deeply about what early autism care looks like and to listen intently to what families are telling us to create collaborative, culturally-informed strategies (55:41). Vismara provides links to manuals, videos, and other resources as well as an Infant Start workshop for professionals (58:55).

Originally posted on October 8, 2024