Joint attention, or the shared focus of attention between objects or events and a social partner, is a crucial milestone in the development of social communication and a notable area of deficit in children with autism spectrum disorder. While valid parent-report screening measures of social communication are available, the majority of these measures are designed to assess a wide range of behaviors. Targeted assessment of joint attention and related skills is primarily limited to semi-structured, examiner-led interactions, which are time-consuming and laborious to score. The Pictorial Infant Communication Scale is an efficient parent-report measure of joint attention that can be used as a complement to structured assessments in fully characterizing early social communication development. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale. Results revealed a high degree of internal consistency and strong intercorrelations between subscales. Additionally, confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model of joint attention. Furthermore, significant correlations between the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale and direct clinical measures of child joint attention, language skills, and autism spectrum disorder symptom severity were suggestive of concurrent validity. Findings suggest that the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale is a promising tool for measuring joint attention skills in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder.

Si l’étiologie de l’autisme reste mal identifiée, ce trouble est caractérisé par des déficits de la communication sociale, notamment de l’attention conjointe, une importante difficulté à comprendre autrui comme agent intentionnel, un manque d’empathie et des déficits d’imitation. Cette recherche a pour objectifs d’étudier d’une part le lien entre la dysrégulation d’attention conjointe et le développement ultérieur de la communication sociale et d’autre part l’impact d’un programme d’intervention individuelle centrée sur l’hétérorégulation de l’attention conjointe chez de jeunes enfants avec autisme. Il s’agit d’une étude à la fois longitudinale (12 mois) et transversale qui porte sur 10 jeunes enfants avec autisme appariés par âge de développement à 10 jeunes enfants avec trisomie 21 et 10 enfants tout-venants. Le développement psychologique des enfants de ces trois groupes est évalué à l’aide de tests psychométriques validés et étalonnés (Brunet-Lézine, BECS, EDEI-R). L’évaluation de la dysrégulation de l’activité d’attention conjointe et de la communication sociale est réalisée au cours de séances d’activités ludiques au moyen d’outils cliniques originaux. L’analyse comparative des résultats met en évidence une dysrégulation dans les processus d’attention conjointe (désynchronisation, persévérations, ruptures, variabilité, lenteur) contribuant au développement atypique de la communication sociale dans l’autisme notamment pour ce qui concerne la fonction directive et la production de gestes conventionnels et pourrait expliquer les difficultés des enfants avec autisme à s’adapter dans une situation sociale. Par ailleurs, l’évolution différentielle des enfants avec autisme bénéficiant de l’intervention montre que les variabilités interindividuelles dans les profils développementaux cognitifs et socio-communicatifs des enfants de notre étude correspondent aux variabilités interindividuelles de dysrégulation d’attention conjointe. Notre modèle de recherche est donc bien confirmé, et met en évidence l’intérêt de l’évaluation de la dysrégulation d’attention conjointe comme pronostic du développement de la communication sociale. Ces résultats nous incitent à proposer des interventions centrées sur l’hétérorégulation d’attention conjointe et de la communication sociale chez de jeunes enfants avec autisme. / The etiology of autism remains poorly identified, however it has been established that this disorder is characterized by deficits in social communication, in particular in joint attention, which involves major difficulties in understanding others as intentional agents, a lack of empathy and deficits in imitation. The objectives of this research are to study, on one hand, the link between joint attention dysregulation and later social communication development, and on the other hand, the impact of an intervention program based on the hetero-regulation of joint attention for young children with autism. It is both a longitudinal (12 months) and transversal study concerning 10 young children with autism, matched by developmental age to 10 young children with Down’s syndrome and to 10 young typically developing children. The development of the children comprising these three groups is assessed with appropriate clinical tools (Brunet-Lézine, BECS, EDEI-R). The assessment of dysregulation (in the domains of activity, joint attention and social communication skills) is realized during play sessions using original clinical tools. The results show dysregulation in processes of joint attention (desynchronization, perseverations, breaking off, instability, slowness) contributing to atypical development of social communication in autism, in particular with regard to producing imperative function and conventional gestures, which could explain the difficulties that children with autism exhibit when learning to socialize. However, differential evolution in children with autism benefiting from intervention shows that inter- individual instabilities in cognitive profiles and in the development of social communication skills correspond to interindividual instabilities in the dysregulation of joint attention. Our model is thus supported by the data, underlining therefore the interest of using joint attention dysregulation as a predictor of social communication development. These results also emphasize the value of therapies based on the hetero-regulation of joint attention and of social communication for young children with autism.

No description available.

Individual differences in child temperament have been associated with individual differences in language development; similarly, relationships have been separately reported among temperament, language and early nonverbal social communication (joint attention). The present study examined the relationship between temperament and language, in the context of joint attention as an underlying developmental variable mediating this association. Temperament, language and joint attention were assessed in 51 Appalachian 21-month-old toddlers. Results indicate a relationship between aspects of temperamental difficulty, including low executive control and high negative affect, and low language. A relationship was also found between temperament and joint attention, such that aspects of high negative affect were predictive of less frequent joint attention engagement. No association was found between joint attention and language at 21 months. Therefore in general, the utility for a model of joint attention as a mediating variable in the relationship between temperament and language was not substantiated.

Through verbal and nonverbal dyadic engagement with caregivers, infants acquire two critical capacities for social engagement: joint attention and language. Children initiate joint attention (IJA) when they use eye contact and pointing (IJA bids) to direct the attention of a social partner to objects of common interest, which then helps children acquire object labels from their social partners. The present study was designed to examine differences in the effect of the number of children in the household (also known as “parity”) on the relationship between IJA and language development. We reasoned that infants who are only children (i.e., in uniparous homes), relative to infants who have one or more siblings (i.e., in multiparous homes), would have more opportunity to engage in IJA, and would, therefore, acquire a larger number of object labels. We tested the hypotheses that: 1) there would be a positive correlation between the number of IJA bids and language overall, and 2) parity would moderate the IJA-language relationship such that in uniparous households, the aforementioned correlation would be stronger than in multiparous homes. For this study, 73 primarily white, middle-class infants ranging from 12 to 20 months of age (30 uniparous, 40 multiparous, 3 missing) visited the lab. Using the Picture Book Task of the Early Social Communication Scales, IJA behaviors were coded when children made eye contact with the experimenter (lower IJA) or pointed to pictures in the book (higher IJA) without elicitation. Productive and receptive vocabulary was measured through parental report using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory. Preliminary analyses showed that older children had larger productive [r(30) = .50, p = .000] but not receptive vocabularies relative to younger children. Also, we were surprised to find that the ages of the infants in our investigation were not associated with the number of siblings in their homes since older infants would have been more likely to have younger siblings. In terms of our hypotheses, it was found that IJA was not associated with either language measure. To test for a moderation effect, we conducted a moderated regression analysis in which each language measure was regressed on IJA, the number of siblings in the home, and the interaction term for these two variables. The interaction term was statistically significant, indicating a moderation effect [B = -8.09, SD = 4.00, t = -2.02, p = .047]. However, this association disappeared after controlling for child age. Overall, our hypotheses were not supported. Although it is possible that parity has no moderating effect of on the IJA-language relationship, our sample size did not provide for large amounts of statistical power to make such a strong claim in this direction. Still, these null findings may provide positive reassurance for families with multiple children that their younger children are not at an IJA/language acquisition disadvantage.

Joint attention behaviours play a central role in natural and believable human-robot interactions. This research presents the design decisions of a semi-autonomous joint attention robotic system, together with the evaluation of its effectiveness and perceived social presence across different cognitive ability groups. For this purpose, two different studies were carried out: first with adults, and then with children between 10 and 12 years-old. The overall results for both studies reflect a system that is perceived as socially present and engaging which can successfully establish joint attention with the participants. When comparing the performance results between the two groups, children achieved higher joint attention scores and reported a higher level of enjoyment and helpfulness in the interaction. Furthermore, a detailed literature review on robot-assisted therapies for children with autism spectrum disorders is presented, focusing on the development of joint attention skills. The children’s positive interaction results from the studies, together with state-of-the-art research therapies and the input from an autism therapist, guided the author to elaborate some design guidelines for a robotic system to assist in joint attention focused autism therapies. / Gemensam uppmärksamhet (joint attention) spelar en central roll i naturliga och trovärdiga interaktioner mellan människor och robotar. Denna rapport presenterar designbesluten av ett semi-autonomt joint attentionsystem för sociala robotar, samt en utvärdering av dess effektivitet och hur grupper med olika kognitiv förmåga upplever dess sociala närvaro. För detta ändamål genomfördes två olika studier: förstmed vuxna, och sedan med barn mellan 10 och 12 år gamla. De övergripande resultaten för båda studierna visar att vi byggt ett system som uppfattas som socialt närvarande och engagerande, och som framgångsrikt kan skapa gemensam uppmärksamhet med deltagarna. När man jämför resultaten mellan de två grupperna, finner man att barn gav högre gemensam uppmärksamhetsresultat de rapporterade att de fick mer hjälp av och tyckte bättre om roboten som använda det utvecklade systemet för joint attention. Vidare presenteras en detaljerad litteraturstudie om robotassisterade terapier för barn med autismspektrumsjukdomar, med fokus på utveckling av gemensamma uppmärksamhetsförmågor. Barnens positiva interaktioner med en robot som hade det utvecklade joint attentionsystemet, tillsammans med litteraturstudier om forskningsterapier och en intervju med en autismterapeut, vägledde författaren attutarbeta riktlinjer för hur man ska designa sociala robotar som har till syfte att användas vid terapi som syftar till att förbättra autistiska barns förmåga att kommunicera icke-verbalt och förstå vad den de talar med fokuserar på.

Past research has focused extensively on the influence of temperament and mother-child interactions for the development of psychopathology. However, there is a paucity of research that has examined the role of natural variations in temperament and mother-child interactions on socioemotional outcome in samples of low-risk typically developing children. Furthermore, most research has investigated temperament and mother-child interactions in separate studies. Accordingly, the present work addressed three issues: 1) the short-term and long-term continuity of temperament and joint attention in typically developing children; 2) the predictive value of temperament and joint attention for socioemotional outcome in typically developing children; and 3) joint attention behaviours in a clinical sample of children. Temperament was assessed through maternal report on the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) beginning when children were between 18 and 3 7 months of age while joint attention was assessed through direct observation. All the IBQ subscales showed 9-month continuity and 4 of the 6 IBQ subscales showed moderate to high stability. Although there was 9-month continuity for all the joint attention measures, only 4 out of the 7 joint attention behaviors showed low to moderate levels of stability. There was little 4-year continuity or stability of temperament. Cross-sectional relations were found between temperament and socioemotional outcome at both 18 and 37 months of age as well as 69 and 88 months of age. Established joint attention, measured when children were between 18 and 37 months of age, significantly predicted internalizing behaviours in typically developing children between the ages of 69 and 88 months. Significant differences in joint attention were also found in a clinical sample of children with internalizing disorders between the ages of 5 and 8 years. The present results suggest that some ofthe same temperament and joint attention behaviours that are associated with atypical development are also associated with typical variations in socioemotional development. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The purpose of the current study was to examine the efficacy of animated video modeling (VM) in promoting acquisition of joint attention and social engagement skills for children with social skills difficulty. The study also sought to evaluate whether acquired skills generalized outside of the research setting. 6 children, ages ranging from 7 – 11 years, participated in the study, which was conducted at 2 different behavioral health clinics in Midwestern Nebraska. Participants were required to meet pre-requisite skills prior to being included in the study. Overall, results of the study found rapid acquisition of both target skills for the majority of the participants. Acquired skills were also demonstrated beyond the treatment setting and person. Further, caregivers reported animated VM was an acceptable treatment approach that was likely to make improvements for their children, reasonable, and could be willingly carried out with minimal concern for time, cost, or undesirable effects. Findings have several important implications regarding the use of animated VM as another type of VM intervention. Limitations and recommendations for future research are presented.

No description available.

Autism is a neurological disorder that affects 1 in 110 children in the United States. Children with autism show deficits in the areas of language development, social skills, and behavioral and sensory functioning. One subset area of deficit involves joint attention skills. Joint attention entails the social sharing of new or novel information in the environment between two people using a gaze shift, vocalization, and/or gesture. The current research examines a behavior-analytic model suggesting that tacting is a central underlying mechanism of joint attention. Data from twenty-two participants in applied behavior-analytic instructional settings were analyzed based on relationships between tacting skills and joint attention abilities. Participants were separated into three groups based on joint attention responding and initiation skills - Joint Attention Responders (JAR), Joint Attention Initiators (JAI), and Pre-Joint Attention Participants (PJA). The tacting model suggests that the JAI group would show the highest joint attention scores, followed by the JAR group and then the PJA group. Current data support this hypothesis and also suggest potential curricular sequencing involving the earlier introduction or tacting, social and imitation skills. Further research utilizing standardized training of tacting repertoires with a larger number of children is recommended. / Psychology