Purpose: to analyze the relevance of family engagement in the implementation of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) in children presented with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Methods: a longitudinal study with a sample of 22 mother- child dyads with ASD; 17 boys and 5 girls, with a mean age of 7 years and 2 months. The Executor Skills Protocol was used. The PECS implementation program consisted of 24 therapy sessions with the active presence of mothers. The family's support was measured by the frequency of the sessions. Spearman's correlation test and a significance level of 0.05% were used. Results: mothers performed most tasks correctly in the first three phases. There was a tendency to correlation between the executor´s skills and the number of sessions in all phases of the program, and in the four initial phases, the indexes showed a statistical significance. Family compliance was 96%. Conclusion: family engagement was relevant for the appropriation of children to the PECS during the time of exposure, reaching phases of discrimination and construction of sentences with cards.

RESUMO O objetivo deste estudo foi produzir análise multimodal exploratória sobre a atenção compartilhada. Utilizou-se a ferramenta ELAN (EUDICO Language Annotator), software com recursos para sincronização temporal e especiais para modalidades verbal e não verbal, que facilitam a visualização e anotação de contextos interacionais. Foram analisados e transcritos trechos de dez minutos de sessão de avaliação fonoaudiológica de uma criança em investigação para transtorno do espectro do autismo (TEA) e outra, com desenvolvimento típico, pareadas por faixa etária e gênero. Foram investigadas e quantificadas as ocorrências espontâneas de direcionamento do olhar das crianças para: os olhos do interlocutor; os brinquedos e/ou brincadeiras; os olhos do interlocutor – brinquedos (atenção compartilhada). As ocorrências de direcionamento do olhar diferiram entre as crianças de forma quantitativa e qualitativa. A criança com suspeita de TEA não produziu episódio de atenção compartilhada, nem direcionou seu olhar para o interlocutor. Foram 56 ocorrências de direcionamentos de olhar apenas para os brinquedos. A criança em desenvolvimento típico produziu 18 ocorrências de atenção compartilhada, sendo que, em todas as vezes que direcionou o olhar para os olhos do interlocutor, o fez para compartilhar o brinquedo ou brincadeira. Observou-se, ainda, 37 ocorrências de direcionamento do olhar para o brinquedo. A partir da análise exploratória produzida pela ferramenta ELAN, foi possível observar que houve diferença em número de ocorrência e trajetória do olhar entre as duas crianças e verificar que a atenção compartilhada esteve ausente na criança com risco para TEA.

The aim of this study was to produce exploratory multimodal analysis on joint attention. We used the ELAN tool: software with resources for temporal and special synchronization for verbal and non-verbal modalities that facilitate the visualization and annotation of interactional contexts. Excerpts of ten minutes of speech and language pathology evaluation of the child with suspected ASD and of another child with typical development matched by age group and gender, were analyzed and transcribed. Spontaneous occurrences of the child's gaze were investigated: a) Towards the interlocutor's eyes. b) Towards toys or play. c) Towards the interlocutor's eyes and toys (Joint Attention). The occurrences of look direction differed between children in a quantitative and qualitative way. The child with suspected ASD did not produce an episode of joint attention, nor did he direct his gaze to the interlocutor. There were 56 occurrences of gazing towards the toys. The typical child produced 18 occurrences of joint attention, and whenever he directed his eyes to the interlocutor's eyes, he did so with the intention of sharing the toy or play. We also observed 37 occurrences of gazing towards the toy or play. From the exploratory analysis produced by ELAN tool, it was possible to observe that there were differences in the number of occurrences and look direction between the evaluated children and to verify that the joint attention was absent in the child with ASD risk.