Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to engage in reciprocal conversations using text-message prompting.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties maintaining conversations. Although there are several established interventions which target initiations and responses to questions made by others, there are fewer interventions which target sustaining conversations with multiple exchanges. A review of the literature revealed that scripting procedures were the most common method to teach individuals to engage in a multi-exchange conversation. However, traditional paper scripts are an intrusive prompting strategy and are inflexible to an everchanging social environment. Text-message prompting via an Apple Watch®️ creates a wearable electronic script that can be prompted from a distance and are malleable to form organic conversations within a social setting.