Early Social Skills: Toddler to Preschool (Part 1)

For educators and practitioners deciding which early social skills to assess, Michele LaMarche examines joint attention, pretend play and shared enjoyment in toddlers and preschoolers with autism. This recorded first installment distinguishes responding to another person's attention bid from initiating one, then reviews related communication and working memory research.

Presenter biographies: Michele LaMarche.

MANDATORY DISCLAIMER: The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (“BACB”) does not sponsor, approve, or endorse Special Learning, the materials, information, or sessions identified herein.

LaMarche distinguishes responding to joint attention bids from initiating them and discusses those skills separately. Her symbolic play examples include a flashlight used as a microphone and a banana used as a telephone, followed by research on joint attention and play.

The session also examines imitation with social acknowledgement, shared laughter and the timing of reciprocal engagement. Its later study review addresses rule-guided behavior, working memory and SCATA, an assessment that scores communication acts by form, function, role and complexity.

What does this recording cover?

• Joint attention includes separate responding and initiating skills.
• Symbolic play examples explore giving familiar objects pretend meanings.
• Socially engaged imitation, affect sharing and interpersonal synchrony receive separate discussions.
• The SCATA review examines communication acts by form, function, role and complexity.
• Working memory discussion distinguishes storage plus processing from short-term memory.

Recording context: The recording date is unconfirmed; available evidence suggests approximately 2012, and the session includes older terminology and assessment references.

What did learners say?

The six-item evaluation mean was 4.16/5 across 61 complete responses, from 441 recorded rating responses. This mean includes only complete six-score responses. Source: Special Learning's course evaluation records, snapshot October 11, 2026.

Three selected anonymous responses appear below, with the wording and spelling retained. They describe learners' experiences and requests; they are not a guarantee of results.

More precision in use of behavioral terms

Course evaluation response, 2023

Providing real examples or case studies would have been great. Using less technical jargon and more conversational language

Course evaluation response, 2023

Great training but I feel like more video examples would make the video better to understand.

Course evaluation response, 2023

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• View this course's purchase and access details