Teaching a perspective‐taking component skill to children with autism in the natural environment

The team worked with three children with autism.

They wanted the kids to say what another person could see, hear, taste, feel, or smell.

Teaching happened at home, in stores, and at the park.

The adults used many examples, praise for correct answers, and quick fixes for errors.

All three children learned to label another person’s senses.

They could do it with new items and new people without extra teaching.

Skills held up in the real world, not just at a table.

Koldas et al. (2025) also taught tacting, but used table-top drills.

Both studies got good generalization, so NET and DTT work for this goal.

Najdowski et al. (2017) used the same many-example plan to teach hidden requests.

Their kids also used the skill with new people, showing the package travels well.

Schroeder et al. (2014) asked whether tact or listener training is faster.

That paper found mixed results across kids, so Welsh et al. (2019) wisely kept both speaking and listening in the natural plan.

You can teach perspective-taking right on the playground.

Run brief trials with varied items and people.

Reinforce correct tacts about what others sense.

Probe with new toys and new faces to check for real learning.