Results support the hypothesis that teaching
joint attention skills leads to improvement in a variety of related skills and have implications for the treatment of young children with autism.
Now we know that less early
initiating joint attention without smiling is a particularly important skill for high - risk siblings.
According to the study, the less
joint attention without smiling at 8 months in a high - risk sibling, the more likely they were to have elevated ASD symptoms by 30 months.
A new study helps us to understand the connection between
early joint attention before one year and later ASD symptoms.
Joint attention intervention (30 minutes daily), symbolic play intervention (30 minutes daily), or control (no intervention) over 5 — 6 weeks.
They work on
joint attention by making the vehicle move and trying to get the child to follow the therapist's gestures / pointing to see where the car went.
To understand sign language, your child must
use joint attention and visual skills which will help them to develop these areas.
If one of these focal points is absent or not active,
then joint attention has not been obtained and the engagement is lost.
They show
little joint attention, are often delayed in development of pointing, with showing and gaze following often being absent.
Theory and research is reviewed to suggest that an early impairment in
joint attention facility may make a significant contribution to risk for negative cognitive and emotional outcomes among these infants.
And that's one of the hallmark deficits to catching autism early is the lack
of joint attention.
Previous studies have shown that low levels of
initiating joint attention are linked to later autism symptoms in high - risk siblings.
Theory of mind and
joint attention skills can develop simultaneously and continue to mature with increasing complexity throughout childhood and into adulthood.
The current study reveals that
joint attention without a positive affective component (a smile) in the first year is particularly important to this relationship.
These data suggest that a disturbance in the tendency to initiate episodes of
joint attention with others may be indicative of early social — cognitive and social — emotional disturbance among infants affected by disorganized attachment status.
Mundy, P., 2007, Individual differences and development of
joint attention in infancy, Child Development 78: 938 ~ 954
The study is titled «
Joint attention initiation with and without positive affect: Risk group differences and associations with ASD symptoms.»
Another earlier review flags the potential for musical training in kids with autism to
improve joint attention, multi-sensory perception... Music interventions demonstrate no negative side - effects whatsoever.
So -
called joint attention — the ability and motivation to guide and follow someone else's gaze — develops in infancy and is thought necessary for complex social interactions, language and co-operation.
In people with autism,
joint attention seems to be abnormal, which may underpin some of the social difficulties they experience.
«Now we know that typically developing children
achieve joint attention with caregivers less through gaze following and more often through following the other's hands.
Poor
receptive joint attention skills are associated with atypical gray matter asymmetry in the posterior superior temporal gyrus of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).
Atypical brain activation patterns during a face - to -
face joint attention game in adults with autism spectrum disorder
The best ways to offset the negative effects are to watch with kids (experts call this «
structured joint attention»), to select programs wisely (educational apps and interactive video games are preferable than shows), to model self - restraint when it comes to using devices, and to take seriously the AAP's recommendations for limiting time spent.
Kasari C, Freeman S, Paparella
T. Joint attention and symbolic play in young children with autism: a randomized controlled intervention study.
Exploring Infant Gesture and
Joint Attention as Related Constructs and as Predictors of Later Language.
In this study, children with autism participated in a 10 -
week joint attention training program and collateral changes in non-targeted behaviors were assessed.
Interactions Between Depressed Mothers and Their Infants: Maternal
Verbal Joint Attention and its Effect on the Infant's Cognitive Development.
Development of
Coordinated joint attention in infancy: Looking through attentional state and pointing behavior in mother - infant interaction
These include
managing joint attention, regulating emotions, inhibiting impulses, imitating another child's actions, understanding cause - and - effect relationships, and developing language skills.
Second, caregivers of children with autism who showed higher levels of synchronization during initial play interactions had children who developed
superior joint attention and language over a period of 1, 10, and 16 years than did children of caregivers who showed lower levels of synchronization initially.
The results revealed that toddlers with D classifications
initiated joint attention with an experimenter significantly less often than did secure, or even other insecure, toddlers.
The findings show that early
joint attention initiation without smiling — matter - of - fact looking at an examiner to communicate interest in a toy — was negatively associated with ASD symptoms.
Hecke, A. V. V., 2007,
Infant joint attention, temperament, and social competence in preschool children, Child Development 78: 53 ~ 69
OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedWeb of Science Q Does
teaching joint attention skills or symbolic play improve developmental problems in autistic children?