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Thursday, May 7, 2009
Northwest Hall (Chicago Hilton)
2:30 PM
Background:
Joint attention, the ability to share focus with another person in relation to an object or event in the environment, is an essential developmental milestone and one of the earliest markers of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Joint attention is thought to directly influence children’s language acquisition, theory of mind development, and social cognition skills. However, research is limited in regards to joint attention skills and the developmental consequences in later childhood and adolescents. We present preliminary data from a measure of joint attention skills in older children and adolescents.
Objectives:
The first goal is to support the validity of this joint attention measure through correlations with an established measure of early social development (Social Communication Questionnaire, SCQ). The second goal is to evaluate the measure’s ability to discriminate between an ASD and a typically developing (TD) group.
Methods:
The measure consists of eight naturalistic prompts, four verbal and four nonverbal, designed to elicit initiation of and response to joint attention. Children receive a score based on the characteristics of their response to each prompt. Prompts include, e.g., calling his/her name, gazing to a target behind the participant, etc. The measure was piloted with 15 15 typical adults (ages 18-21) to establish its appropriateness, interrater reliability, and psychometric stability. In addition, data were collected from (to date) eight children, ages 7 to 14 years. Four children with ASD were matched to 4 typically developing controls on chronological age, p = .68 (ASD M = 10.5, TD M = 11.3 years) and IQ, p = .85 (ASD M = 103.8, TD M = 105.3). ASD diagnosis was established with the ADOS and ADI. Final analyses will include data from 40 children (ASD n = 20) ages 6 to 16 years.
Results:
The ASD and TD groups differed significantly in total score for the joint attention measure, p = .01 (ASD M = 16.75, TD M = 24.25), indicating that the ASD group was significantly less responsive to joint attention prompts and less likely to initiate joint attention episodes. Importantly, there was individual variability within both groups, with scores ranging from 16 to 17 (ASD) and 19 to 28 (TD) from a total possible score of 32. Furthermore, the joint attention measure was significantly correlated with SCQ scores, r = -.724, p = .04.
Conclusions:
While preliminary, these exciting data suggest that joint attention continues to impact social interactions in individuals with ASD, even during late school-age and early adolescence. Drawing on a full dataset, these data will indicate whether joint attention is measurable via a straightforward, psychometrically-valid measure. Given the demonstrable consequences of atypical joint attention, such an assessment tool would be highly useful and clinically valuable.
Joint attention, the ability to share focus with another person in relation to an object or event in the environment, is an essential developmental milestone and one of the earliest markers of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Joint attention is thought to directly influence children’s language acquisition, theory of mind development, and social cognition skills. However, research is limited in regards to joint attention skills and the developmental consequences in later childhood and adolescents. We present preliminary data from a measure of joint attention skills in older children and adolescents.
Objectives:
The first goal is to support the validity of this joint attention measure through correlations with an established measure of early social development (Social Communication Questionnaire, SCQ). The second goal is to evaluate the measure’s ability to discriminate between an ASD and a typically developing (TD) group.
Methods:
The measure consists of eight naturalistic prompts, four verbal and four nonverbal, designed to elicit initiation of and response to joint attention. Children receive a score based on the characteristics of their response to each prompt. Prompts include, e.g., calling his/her name, gazing to a target behind the participant, etc. The measure was piloted with 15 15 typical adults (ages 18-21) to establish its appropriateness, interrater reliability, and psychometric stability. In addition, data were collected from (to date) eight children, ages 7 to 14 years. Four children with ASD were matched to 4 typically developing controls on chronological age, p = .68 (ASD M = 10.5, TD M = 11.3 years) and IQ, p = .85 (ASD M = 103.8, TD M = 105.3). ASD diagnosis was established with the ADOS and ADI. Final analyses will include data from 40 children (ASD n = 20) ages 6 to 16 years.
Results:
The ASD and TD groups differed significantly in total score for the joint attention measure, p = .01 (ASD M = 16.75, TD M = 24.25), indicating that the ASD group was significantly less responsive to joint attention prompts and less likely to initiate joint attention episodes. Importantly, there was individual variability within both groups, with scores ranging from 16 to 17 (ASD) and 19 to 28 (TD) from a total possible score of 32. Furthermore, the joint attention measure was significantly correlated with SCQ scores, r = -.724, p = .04.
Conclusions:
While preliminary, these exciting data suggest that joint attention continues to impact social interactions in individuals with ASD, even during late school-age and early adolescence. Drawing on a full dataset, these data will indicate whether joint attention is measurable via a straightforward, psychometrically-valid measure. Given the demonstrable consequences of atypical joint attention, such an assessment tool would be highly useful and clinically valuable.