ASSIGNMENT 26

REPLY 3

Joint attention is a non-verbal form of communication that precedes verbal communication and socialization in typically developing infants and toddlers. Joint attention is critical for social development, communication and language acquisition, and cognitive development. Typically developing children develop joint attention around the age of 9-18 months of age. A number of social and emotional interactions in a row initiates infant/toddler joint attention. Joint attention skills continues into the child’s early communication milestones. By year 1 the typically developing child begins to use gestures and follow another person’s eye gaze. The child may also point to coordinate attention to an object of mutual interest – this is known commonly as responding to joint attention.

By 18-24 months, the typically developing child initiates joint attention by: (a) utilizing a point or eye gaze towards an object of interest and can include utilizing a sound to get adult’s attention or, (b) involved adults commenting on an object or event of interest, creating critical time for children to learn words. Early social skill delays can be seen by lack of eye contact, lack of initiating and/or responding to gestures, unresponsiveness to name, and lack of attention seeking behaviors. These deficits in social communication lead to further deficits in joint attention. By age three, parents notice a meaningful lack of communication. These children are less likely to produce pre-language sounds, have lack of eye contact and use gestures less commonly.

Children with Autism spectrum disorder do not have the same social communication skills as their typically developing peers. For example, a child with Autism may not respond to his/her name, make eye contact or smile. Using eye contact and gesturing is an example of joint attention (also known as shared attention). Children develop joint attention skills in order to develop further communication and language skills. If a father is pointing to a picture of a cat but, the child is looking at the dining room chair, it will be more difficult for the child to learn the link between the picture of the cat and the word ‘cat.’ Furthermore, difficulty with joint attention skills may make it harder for children with Autism to learn other social skills. Social skills such as: taking turns, interpreting facial expressions or determining emotions, and keeping conversation may become difficult for an individual with a deficit in joint attention skills. Joint attention deficits are stable in children with Autism across all levels of the spectrum.   

Two interventions that are used to meet communication needs are the (1) pivotal response training (PRT) and (2) positive behavior support (PBS). Pivotal response training is a principle of ABA used to increase “pivotal” areas of development such as communication, social skills, and play skills. The pivotal response training should take place in the child’s natural environment and use everyday activities to teach the child the skills. Pivotal response training may take a long time to teach the child the skills, however, research does should positive effects on behavior of children with ASD. The second method, positive behavior support, is used to improve social, communication, and other areas of the child’s life. Although the main goal of PBS is to decrease problem behavior, a number of children with ASD may exhibit maladaptive behavior with deficits in joint attention due to communication deficits. Thus, PBS is an effective method to teach appropriate behavior while teaching skills.     

References

Boutot, E. A. (2017). Autism Spectrum Disorders: Foundations, characteristics, and effective strategies. (2nd ed.) Boston: Pearson.

Buron, K. D. and Wolfberg, P.  (2014).  Learners on the autism spectrum: Preparing highly qualified educators and related practitioners.  Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.