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Saturday, May 9, 2009
Northwest Hall (Chicago Hilton)
12:00 PM
Background: Joint attention (JA) occurs when two people pay attention to the same object or event at the same time and monitor one another’s awareness of that focus. JA is an important early communication skill because it is predictive of current language abilities and may be a pivotal skill necessary for future language development. For children with autism, development of JA has been shown to be absent or delayed. Yet there is a subgroup of young children with autism who do employ JA. The types of JA used by this subgroup are unclear, as are the ways in which they compare to children with other developmental delays (DD).
Objectives: This study examined the JA profiles of young children with autism who had the ability to respond to JA. The research questions were: 1) How did children with autism and JA skills compare to MA-matched children with DD with regard to initiating JA, responding to JA, eye contact, gestures, and facial affect used during JA, and adults toward whom they initiated? 2) Were the children’s concurrent language abilities associated with their JA skills and how did they compare across groups?
Methods: A video analysis of JA skills exhibited during taped sections of the ADOS was completed for 40 children. Twenty had autism and were matched on nonverbal mental age (MA) and chronological age (CA) with 20 with DD (M same for both: CA=44mo, MA=26mo). Diagnosis was confirmed by the ADOS and ADI-R. Children were administered the PLS-4 and the Mullen. JA data and language were compared.
Results: Initiating JA—Children with autism initiated JA significantly less frequently than those with DD (χ2(1, n=40)=4.434,p<.05). When they did initiate though, both groups used JA in similar ways: no differences in the frequency with which children used a point, show, or other gesture, if they made eye contact, if they had a positive or negative affect, nor toward whom the bid was directed.
Responding to JA—Children did not differ significantly on the number of JA bids they responded to given the number of bids the adult offered to them (χ2(1, n=40)=1.416,p>.05) but adults did offer more bids to children with autism (χ2(1, n=40)=15.17,p<.001). When responding to JA, children looked very similar, except that those with autism vocalized more than those with DD (χ2(1, n=40)=7.46,p<.01).
The concurrent language scores of the two groups were not significantly different (M=24.1 months autism and M=27.4 months DD); when modeled controlling for MA, diagnosis did not account for language (F(1)=1.361,p=.251).
Conclusions: There is a subgroup of children with autism that can use JA in similar ways to children with DD. Though children with autism initiated JA less frequently, when they did use JA (either to initiate or to respond), their JA profiles were very similar to those with DD as were their concurrent language scores. This subgroup of children with autism who have JA may follow a different developmental trajectory, (e.g. may have better concurrent and future language outcomes) than children with autism who do not exhibit JA.
Objectives: This study examined the JA profiles of young children with autism who had the ability to respond to JA. The research questions were: 1) How did children with autism and JA skills compare to MA-matched children with DD with regard to initiating JA, responding to JA, eye contact, gestures, and facial affect used during JA, and adults toward whom they initiated? 2) Were the children’s concurrent language abilities associated with their JA skills and how did they compare across groups?
Methods: A video analysis of JA skills exhibited during taped sections of the ADOS was completed for 40 children. Twenty had autism and were matched on nonverbal mental age (MA) and chronological age (CA) with 20 with DD (M same for both: CA=44mo, MA=26mo). Diagnosis was confirmed by the ADOS and ADI-R. Children were administered the PLS-4 and the Mullen. JA data and language were compared.
Results: Initiating JA—Children with autism initiated JA significantly less frequently than those with DD (χ2(1, n=40)=4.434,p<.05). When they did initiate though, both groups used JA in similar ways: no differences in the frequency with which children used a point, show, or other gesture, if they made eye contact, if they had a positive or negative affect, nor toward whom the bid was directed.
Responding to JA—Children did not differ significantly on the number of JA bids they responded to given the number of bids the adult offered to them (χ2(1, n=40)=1.416,p>.05) but adults did offer more bids to children with autism (χ2(1, n=40)=15.17,p<.001). When responding to JA, children looked very similar, except that those with autism vocalized more than those with DD (χ2(1, n=40)=7.46,p<.01).
The concurrent language scores of the two groups were not significantly different (M=24.1 months autism and M=27.4 months DD); when modeled controlling for MA, diagnosis did not account for language (F(1)=1.361,p=.251).
Conclusions: There is a subgroup of children with autism that can use JA in similar ways to children with DD. Though children with autism initiated JA less frequently, when they did use JA (either to initiate or to respond), their JA profiles were very similar to those with DD as were their concurrent language scores. This subgroup of children with autism who have JA may follow a different developmental trajectory, (e.g. may have better concurrent and future language outcomes) than children with autism who do not exhibit JA.