The Effectiveness of a Training Program based on Joint Attention Activities to Develop the Social Skills of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder Enrolled in Inclusive Schools at Jordan

This study examined the effectiveness of a training program based on joint attention activities in developing the social skills of students with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive schools in Jordan. The sample consisted of 14 students with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 7 and 11 years, who were intentionally selected and divided equally into an experimental group and a control group. The researcher utilized a training program based on joint attention and a social skills scale that was developed for the study. Arithmetic means and standard deviations were calculated for the pre and post measures of both groups, and the Mann Whitney test was applied to compare rank means. The findings indicated statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α ≤ 0.05) between the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group, demonstrating the effectiveness of the training program in improving the social skills of students with autism spectrum disorder.The study recommends integrating joint attention activities into educational programs provided to students with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive schools and training teachers on how to use them.