An Expanded View of Joint Attention: Skill, Engagement, and Language in Typical Development and Autism

Overview

Journal Child Dev

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 2017 Oct 10

PMID 28991358

Citations 48

Authors

Lauren B Adamson

Roger Bakeman

Katharine Suma

Diana L Robins

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This study provides an expanded view of joint attention and its relation to expressive language development. A total of 144 toddlers (40 typically developing, 58 with autism spectrum disorder [ASD], 46 with developmental delay [DD]) participated at 24 and 31 months. Toddlers who screened positive for ASD risk, especially those subsequently diagnosed with ASD, had poorer joint attention skills, joint engagement during parent-toddler interaction, and expressive language. Findings highlight the dynamic relation between joint attention and language development. In the ASD and DD groups, joint engagement predicted later expressive vocabulary, significantly more than predictions based on joint attention skills. Joint engagement was most severely impacted when toddlers did not talk initially and improved markedly if they subsequently began to speak.

Citing Articles

Association between the use of mobile touchscreen devices and the quality of parent-child interaction in preschoolers.

Liszkai-Peres K, Budai Z, Kocsis A, Juranyi Z, Pogany A, Kampis G Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2025; 3:1330243.

PMID: 39839324 PMC: 11748892. DOI: 10.3389/frcha.2024.1330243.

Pragmatic performance, its relationship with symptom severity, and early clinical predictors of pragmatics in 5 ~ 6-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder.

Qian L, Ding N, Fang H, Xiao T, Sun B, Gao H BMC Psychiatry. 2025; 25(1):58.

PMID: 39833750 PMC: 11749432. DOI: 10.1186/s12888-024-06452-1.

Associations Between Joint Attention, Supported Joint Engagement and Language in TD Children and Children with ASD: Potential Sources of Individual and Group Differences in Language Outcomes.

Abdelaziz A, Wagner M, Naigles L Lang Learn Dev. 2025; 21(1):27-57.

PMID: 39830169 PMC: 11737634. DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2024.2336047.

Preserved but Un-Sustained Responses to Bids for Dyadic Engagement in School-Age Children with Autism.

Wall C, Hudac C, Dommer K, Li B, Atyabi A, Foster C J Autism Dev Disord. 2025; .

PMID: 39754656 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06691-x.

Characterizing social communication among minimally verbal children with autism: An application of item response theory.

Schlink A, Kasari C Autism Res. 2024; 17(9):1830-1843.

PMID: 39152613 PMC: 11534568. DOI: 10.1002/aur.3218.

References

Mundy P, Block J, Delgado C, Pomares Y, Van Hecke A, Parlade M . Individual differences and the development of joint attention in infancy. Child Dev. 2007; 78(3):938-54. PMC: 2654237. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01042.x. View

Mundy P, Sigman M, Kasari C . A longitudinal study of joint attention and language development in autistic children. J Autism Dev Disord. 1990; 20(1):115-28. DOI: 10.1007/BF02206861. View

Hirsh-Pasek K, Adamson L, Bakeman R, Owen M, Golinkoff R, Pace A . The Contribution of Early Communication Quality to Low-Income Children's Language Success. Psychol Sci. 2015; 26(7):1071-83. DOI: 10.1177/0956797615581493. View

Robins D, Casagrande K, Barton M, Chen C, Dumont-Mathieu T, Fein D . Validation of the modified checklist for Autism in toddlers, revised with follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F). Pediatrics. 2013; 133(1):37-45. PMC: 3876182. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2013-1813. View

Hurwitz S, Watson L . Joint attention revisited: Finding strengths among children with autism. Autism. 2015; 20(5):538-50. PMC: 5461167. DOI: 10.1177/1362361315593536. View

Dawson G, Toth K, Abbott R, Osterling J, Munson J, Estes A . Early social attention impairments in autism: social orienting, joint attention, and attention to distress. Dev Psychol. 2004; 40(2):271-83. DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.271. View

Tomasello M, Farrar M . Joint attention and early language. Child Dev. 1986; 57(6):1454-63. View

Adamson L, Bakeman R, Brandon B . How parents introduce new words to young children: The influence of development and developmental disorders. Infant Behav Dev. 2015; 39:148-58. PMC: 4417408. DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.02.008. View

Cohen J . Weighted kappa: nominal scale agreement with provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit. Psychol Bull. 2009; 70(4):213-20. DOI: 10.1037/h0026256. View

10.

Herlihy L, Knoch K, Vibert B, Fein D . Parents' first concerns about toddlers with autism spectrum disorder: effect of sibling status. Autism. 2013; 19(1):20-8. PMC: 4386719. DOI: 10.1177/1362361313509731. View

11.

Robins D, Adamson L, Barton M, Connell Jr J, Dumont-Mathieu T, Dworkin P . Universal Autism Screening for Toddlers: Recommendations at Odds. J Autism Dev Disord. 2016; 46(5):1880-2. PMC: 4826800. DOI: 10.1007/s10803-016-2697-5. View

12.

Haebig E, McDuffie A, Weismer S . The contribution of two categories of parent verbal responsiveness to later language for toddlers and preschoolers on the autism spectrum. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2012; 22(1):57-70. PMC: 3590806. DOI: 10.1044/1058-0360(2012/11-0004). View

13.

Luyster R, Lord C . Word learning in children with autism spectrum disorders. Dev Psychol. 2009; 45(6):1774-86. PMC: 3035482. DOI: 10.1037/a0016223. View

14.

Skwerer D, Jordan S, Brukilacchio B, Tager-Flusberg H . Comparing methods for assessing receptive language skills in minimally verbal children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Autism. 2015; 20(5):591-604. PMC: 6988895. DOI: 10.1177/1362361315600146. View

15.

Yu C, Smith L . Joint attention without gaze following: human infants and their parents coordinate visual attention to objects through eye-hand coordination. PLoS One. 2013; 8(11):e79659. PMC: 3827436. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079659. View

16.

Suma K, Adamson L, Bakeman R, Robins D, Abrams D . After Early Autism Diagnosis: Changes in Intervention and Parent-Child Interaction. J Autism Dev Disord. 2016; 46(8):2720-2733. PMC: 5108300. DOI: 10.1007/s10803-016-2808-3. View

17.

Adamson L, Bakeman R, Deckner D, Nelson P . From interactions to conversations: the development of joint engagement during early childhood. Child Dev. 2013; 85(3):941-955. PMC: 4019689. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12189. View

18.

Arunachalam S, Luyster R . The integrity of lexical acquisition mechanisms in autism spectrum disorders: A research review. Autism Res. 2015; 9(8):810-28. PMC: 4916034. DOI: 10.1002/aur.1590. View

19.

Bottema-Beutel K . Associations between joint attention and language in autism spectrum disorder and typical development: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Autism Res. 2016; 9(10):1021-1035. DOI: 10.1002/aur.1624. View

20.

Zubrick S, Taylor C, Rice M, Slegers D . Late language emergence at 24 months: an epidemiological study of prevalence, predictors, and covariates. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2007; 50(6):1562-92. PMC: 3521638. DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2007/106). View