The Sequential Relationship Between Parent Attentional Cues and Sustained Attention to Objects in Young Children with Autism

Background: Sustaining attention to objects may be particularly challenging for young children with autism. When a child has difficulty sustaining attention to an object or activity, the parent’s opportunity to provide developmentally facilitating input may be limited. Determining the types of attentional cues that parents use successfully to orient their child with autism to objects may help us understand how we can extend these developmentally enriching opportunities.

Objectives: To determine if there is a stronger sequential association between child sustained object attention and parent attentional cues when the parent (a) matches the child’s focus of attention than when s/he redirects the child or introduces a new focus of attention and (b) coordinates multiple behaviors in the attentional cue than when the s/he uses fewer behaviors. Methods: Twenty-five parent-child dyads were observed during one 20-minute free-play interaction session in a university laboratory setting. Sequential analysis was used to examine the extent to which child sustained object attention occurred after different types of parent attentional cues.
Results: The strength of the sequential association between child object attention and parent cues which maintained the child’s focus of attention was significantly greater than the strength of the sequential association between child object attention and parent cues which either redirected the child or introduced a new focus of attention. The strength of the sequential association between child object attention and parent cues which included a combination of three or more behaviors was significantly greater than the strength of the sequential association between child object attention and parent cues which included one or two behaviors. 
Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, we can recommend that most parents match their child’s focus of attention and coordinate multiple behaviors in their attentional cues when attempting to sustain the object attention of their young child with autism.