Joint Attention of Children with Autism in Urban Early Childhood Center-Based Programs

Background:

Young children with autism have specific deficits in joint attention, which is the ability to share interest about an object or event with another person. Because research has shown that joint attention skills are predictive of later language and social development, targeting joint attention is an especially important goal in early intervention. However, research in this area has primarily focused on children in suburban environments.

Objectives:

The aims of this study were to determine the extent children with autism in urban environments respond to and initiate joint attention behaviors in their everyday classroom environment and to explore differences in joint attention as related to demographic characteristics.

Methods:

In the study, children with autism from ten different early childhood special education urban classrooms were observed for approximately one hour over three separate days during structured and unstructured activities. Children were rated for joint attention skills from the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS) and a videotaped play interaction with a caregiver. The children ranged in age from 40 to 73 months old and their mental ages ranged from 15 to 58 months. Most of the children were African American and lived only with their biological mother and siblings. The majority of mothers indicated completion of high school as their highest level of education and worked full time. Results were compared to a previously collected sample of children with autism from eleven different classrooms in a suburban environment using similar procedures as outlined above. In this suburban sample, children ranged in age from 38 to 62 months old and their mental ages ranged from 18.5 to 59 months. Most of the children were either Caucasian or Asian American and lived with both their biological mother and father. The majority of these mothers completed college but were not employed.

Results:

Preliminary results indicate no significant differences in joint attention between the children with autism in the urban environment and the children in the suburban environment. Although there was individual variation in the frequency and type of joint attention behaviors, overall, children with autism in both groups generally displayed few responses to and initiations of joint attention in the testing situation as well as in the classroom setting. Additionally, findings show that regardless of the environment (urban or suburban), the teachers seldom focused on joint attention in their teaching; when they did, it was rarely for the purposes of increasing joint attention skills.

Conclusions:

The preliminary results suggest regardless of demographic variables, the early core deficit of joint attention in young children with autism is the same. Therefore, while research findings describing joint attention characteristics of young children with autism from suburban environments may be generalized to children in urban environments, the effectiveness of interventions may still vary due to availability of resources. However, results do emphasize the importance of teachers in both urban and suburban environments targeting joint attention skills in their preschool special education classes for children with autism.