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| Joint Attention in Young Children With Autism: A Behavioral Perspective |
| Sunday, May 30, 2004 |
| 9:00 AM–10:20 AM |
| Back Bay C |
| Area: AUT/DDA; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Rebecca P. F. MacDonald (New England Center for Children) |
| Discussant: Martha Pelaez (Florida International University) |
| Abstract: Learning Objectives
Learner will state in behavioral terms the difference between joint attention responding and joint attention initiations.
Learner will be able to describe procedures for assessing joint attention performance.
Learner will be able to describe a procedure to teach use of joint attention gestures in the context of a picture activity schedule. |
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| The Effects of EIBI on Joint Attention in Young Children with Autism |
| REBECCA P. F. MACDONALD (New England Center for Children), Jennifer Sutton (New England Center for Children), William V. Dube (E.K. Shriver Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School), William L. Holcomb (New England Center for Children), Renee C. Mansfield (New England Center for Children), June M. Sanchez (New England Center for Children), Ellyn M. South (New England Center for Children) |
| Abstract: This paper describes a highly structured assessment protocol with objective behavioral measures for joint attention responding and initiation. The assessment was given to 26 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and 21 typically developing children, aged 2 to 4 year. IOA data were collected on 35% of all administrations of the assessment protocol, and averaged 96% (range, 87%-100%).. Results showed that children with autism had relatively minor deficits for joint attention responding and more severe deficits in joint attention initiation, relative to typically developing children. At entry 78% of children with autism demonstrated gaze shifts, 44% demonstrated gestures, and 22% demonstrated vocalizations. After one year of participation in a comprehensive treatment program, results from the second administration of the assessment indicated that 100% of children demonstrated gaze shifts, 100% demonstrated gestures, and 89% demonstrated vocalizations. Levels of joint attention after one year of treatment were similar to levels observed in age-matched typically developing peers. |
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| Teaching Joint Attention Skills to Young Children with Autism |
| REGINA LEDO (Princeton Child Development Institute), Patricia J. Krantz (Princeton Child Development Institute), Lynn E. McClannahan (Princeton Child Development Institute), Jay S. Birnbrauer (Murdoch University, Perth, Australia) |
| Abstract: Behavioral repertoires of children with autism are characterized by deficits in joint attention, but only a small body of research documents effective strategies for teaching these skills. In this study, a multiple baseline design was used to assess the effectiveness of photographic activity schedules to teach a joint attention response (pointing) to three learners with autism, ages two to five years. Thirty-six age appropriate toys were randomly assigned to six sets; four sets were designated as teaching stimuli and two sets were never taught. A photographic activity schedule was used to cue learners to play with toys in three locations – puppet theatre, toy shelves and toy box. When learners initiated for toys during teaching, they were manually guided to point to the toy, while oriented to the recipient. Manual prompts were faded from graduated guidance to spatial fading and shadowing, and then the teacher’s proximity was decreased. All three learners learned to point to toys; further, these skills generalized to novel stimuli. However, the response did not maintain for any of the learners. A new study, with the same participants, investigated the maintenance of joint attention as the reinforcement schedule is leaned. |
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| A Behavioral Analysis of Joint Attention |
| WILLIAM V. DUBE (E.K. Shriver Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School) |
| Abstract: Joint attention (JA) is defined in the cognitive/developmental psychology literature as a child's actions that verify or produce simultaneous attending by that child and an adult to some object or event in the environment, in order that both may experience the object or event together. This theoretical paper will present a behavioral analysis of JA initiation in preschool children. A satisfactory behavioral analysis of JA must account for (a) the selective effects of environmental stimuli that set the occasion for the response class, (b) stimuli that support JA behavioral chains in dual roles as discriminative and reinforcing stimuli, (c) the consequences that lead to choice of experiencing an object or event together with the adult vs. independently of the adult, and (d) relevant and plausible environmental conditioning histories. This presentation will also include a discussion of JA deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders and specific suggestions for treatment approaches derived from the behavioral analysis. |
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