What is it?

Attention Autism (Bucket Therapy) is an intervention approach by Speech and Language Therapist Gina Davies which aims to work on the early fundamentals of language including awareness of others, attention, listening, shared attention, switching attention and turn-taking.

Attention skills are an integral part of how we connect with people, the world around us and how we learn. These early skills can be particularly difficult for children with Autism. Gina Davies suggests that the answer is to make your interactions irresistible by using activities that are worthy of the child’s attention.  If the child is having fun, they will be more likely to join in and engage.

How does it differ from traditional therapy approaches?

Traditional therapy approaches are often not as effective for children with Autism compared with typically developing peers. For example, A child is shown a picture, the therapist explains that ‘The boy is riding a bike’ and then asks the child, ‘What is the boy doing?’ This requires many skills from the child including attention, listening, memory, social skills, language, and many other skills that children with Autism find difficult. This can often lead to confusion and lack of engagement in therapy.  

Children with Autism are often visual learners and have a good memory for things they find interesting. Attention Autism uses these areas of strength to scaffold learning.  It aims to engage children using highly motivating activities and using this as a base to introduce other skills including joint attention, turn-taking and vocabulary development. The aim is to get spontaneous engagement from the child rather than simply telling the child to listen, look and attend to an activity.

How does it work?

The approach consists of 4 stages. These steps follow the typical pattern of attention development shown in young infants, starting from highly distractible, fleeting attention, and working up to multi-channelled well-established attention.

Stage 1: FOCUS- The Bucket

The aims are for the child to...

• Focus their attention on the adult led activity
• Engage their attention with enthusiasm
• Relax and enjoy these times
• To anticipate shared good times

Stage 2: SUSTAIN- The attention builder

Offer an activity that has a sequence building to a final fantastic experience. This can get long or short as you like depending on attention levels. Additional vocabulary can be added at a later stage.

Stage 3: SHIFT- Interactive game

Once the children are attending to an adult led activity for a longer period, it is time to begin modelling turn-taking skills and how to shift attention from self to the rest of the group.  

Stage 4: 1, 2 & 3 TRANSITIONS- Table top activity

Once they have reached stage 4, it is time to practise attending to a self-led activity. The children should watch a demonstration of the activity carried out by an adult, take their pack of resources, go to their own space and carry out the activity independently. The focus should be on the progress and attention rather than the end result. The children should then come back together and share in celebrating the end result!