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Early intervention is a critical component of efforts to optimize outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families. One promising target for early intervention is joint attention, an early developing social-cognitive competency that is foundational to many other social, communicative, and cognitive skills; and a core deficit in children with ASD. While joint attention interventions are gaining interest among researchers, many are limited by their failure to situate joint attention development within the caregiver-child relationship and to adequately examine child and caregiver outcomes and transactional processes. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in child and caregiver joint attention actions and transactions across the course of a parent-mediated joint attention intervention. The Child-Caregiver Joint Attention coding system was developed and applied to videotaped caregiver-child interaction sessions from all phases of the Joint Attention Mediated Learning intervention. Participants included five mothers and their toddler aged sons. Joint attention actions examined included gaze alternations, pointing, showing, joint attention responding, and joint attention initiating for both children and caregivers. Four of five children demonstrated increases in gaze alternations, joint attention responding, and joint attention initiating by the end of the intervention. Three caregivers demonstrated increases in gaze alternations and joint attention responding, and four displayed increases in joint attention initiating. There was no clear pattern of change across children or caregivers in pointing or showing. All participants, with the exception of one caregiver, responded to a higher percentage of opportunities for joint attention in the final intervention phase than in Baseline, suggesting that most participants became more responsive to their social partners by the end of the intervention. The findings of this study suggest that parent-mediated joint attention interventions have the potential to promote changes in both child and caregiver joint attention actions and transactional relationships. Future research should continue to examine outcomes for both children and primary caregivers and changes in child-caregiver transactions over the course of different types of joint attention interventions in order to inform intervention development and selection, and explore mechanisms for change.

abstract: Previous research has suggested that the social interactions parents engage in with their typically developing children are critical to the relationships children form with peers later in development. Fewer studies, however, have investigated the relation between parent and child interactions and peer relations in children with autism. The current study aimed to investigate the relation between parent-child joint attention skills, social competence and friendship quality in children with autism and in typically developing children. A matched sample of 20 preschool-aged children with autism and 20 preschool-aged typically developing children were observed interacting with their parents in a laboratory setting. Approximately one year later, parents filled out a questionnaire assessing their child's social competency and quality of friendships with peers. Results indicated significant group differences between children with autism and typically developing children in all study variables, with children with autism displaying less initiation of joint attention, lower social competence and low quality friendships. Additionally, child initiated joint attention was positively related to social competence for both groups; effects were not moderated by diagnosis status. It is concluded that parent and child interactions during the preschool years are important to the development of social competence with peers. Intervention and policy implications are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Family and Human Development 2010

This study focuses on the use of a humanoid robot to facilitate the initiation of social engagement behaviors in two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Approximately 10 minutes of a 50-minute treatment session were devoted to interaction using a humanoid robot, Troy, to facilitate interactions with a graduate clinician or caretaker. These interactions were recorded, analyzed, and coded in 5 s intervals. This study focused specifically on the children's initiations of social engagement behaviors. Results suggested that the robot had potential to facilitate social engagement between the children and the adults.

Joint attention is an early emerging skill that plays a critical role in early child development (Moore & Dunham, 1995). This shared engagement facilitates language acquisition (e.g., Morales et al., 1998) and predicts social cognition in early childhood (Van Hecke et al., 2007). Thus, it is important to understand factors contributing to individual differences in joint attention development. One potential predictor is mother-infant synchrony, the extent to which mothers’ verbal and nonverbal input is contingent upon their infants’ focus (Siller & Sigman, 2002). Researchers found synchrony to be positively associated with the rate of language development (Akhtar et al., 1991). However, few studies have examined mother-infant synchrony longitudinally and whether synchrony influences individual differences in joint attention. The present study is one of the first to examine these relationships in depth prospectively. Twenty typically-developing infants (11 male) and their mothers participated at approximately 9, 12, and 15 months of age as part of a larger longitudinal study of infants at risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Each dyad engaged in a 15-minute unstructured play session, which was coded for synchrony (Siller & Sigman, 2002). In addition, researchers administered the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS; Mundy et al., 2003) with the infant, which was coded for Initiating Joint Attention (IJA) and Responding to Joint Attention (RJA). The results suggest that synchrony was stable within dyads across 9, 12, and 15 months. Surprisingly, higher 9-month synchrony was correlated with lower 12-month RJA. Growth curve modeling revealed significant growth in RJA, but not IJA, over time. However, synchrony scores did not significantly predict growth in IJA or RJA over time as predicted. These preliminary results suggest that synchrony is a relatively stable construct that likely reflects true differences between mother-infant dyads. Mothers following their child’s lead more often at 9 months had infants exhibiting less RJA at 12 months. Contrary to our predictions, there were no other significant associations between synchrony and joint attention. These findings will be reexamined upon collection of additional data. Nonetheless, the current study helps to elucidate the nature of synchrony and joint attention over time in infancy. / text

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-55). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR19674

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-72).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--CSULA/UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-78).

Thesis (M.S. in Psychology)--Vanderbilt University, Aug. 2005. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Earlier identification of autism allows for interventions to begin during toddlerhood. Literature suggests that parents are an important part of very early intervention and specific goals have indicated that they are important to progress. The use of telemedicine may increase access to interventions. The purpose of the study was to evaluate a parent-toddler training program that targeted social-communication skills and incorporated a telemedicine component. Measures included parent teaching targets, child attending, vocal requesting, and coordinated joint attention and the parent's response to coordinated joint attention. Results indicate that parent teaching increased, child attending and vocalizations increased, child coordinated joint attention increased, and the parent's response to coordinated joint attention was primarily social in nature. Analysis of the home observations indicates that direct in home observations or teleconference observations neither under or overestimated behaviors. The results are discussed in the context of teaching and feedback delivery and selection of teaching targets.