Increasing Joint Attention in Children with Autism and Their Peers
One afternoon of peer BST with live and video models doubles joint attention for preschoolers with autism and the boost spreads to untrained peers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team trained four typical preschoolers to draw joint attention from classmates with autism.
Training took one afternoon. Kids watched a short video, then practiced with an adult who gave praise and tips.
After training, the peers played freely with five autistic children for 15-minute sessions.
What they found
Joint attention doubled for every autistic child, even with new peers who had no training.
The trained peers also got better at waiting, pointing, and showing toys.
Gains stayed high when teachers stopped reminding them.
How this fits with other research
Lowe et al. (1995) did the same thing 25 years earlier with PRT instead of BST. Both studies show typical kids can unlock social growth in autistic classmates.
Pérez-Fuster et al. (2022) got the same jump in joint attention using an augmented-reality room instead of live peers. Tech and peer routes both work; pick the one your classroom can run.
Wormald et al. (2019) used joint video modeling to lift pretend-play talk. Kourassanis-Velasquez adds live peer models plus feedback, giving you a ready-made package that hits joint attention first.
Why it matters
You can raise joint attention in one week without extra staff. Train a few typical peers during snack time. Use the free video script in the paper. Watch both groups—autistic and neurotypical—play better together.
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Join Free →Pick two typical classmates, show the 3-minute video model, practice showing and pointing, then release them into free play with your autistic learners and tally joint attention for 10 minutes.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Joint attention (JA) and peer interactions are significantly impaired in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Empirically demonstrated interventions exist to address JA with adults, but few with peers. Training peers through instructions, modeling (both live and video models), role play, and feedback may help facilitate JA in children with ASD. We examined the effects of peer training with live and video models on typically developing (TD) peer strategies to facilitate JA and JA behavior in children with ASD. TD peers showed some improvement in prompting and reinforcing JA. Children with ASD showed overall increases in JA with trained and novel peers that were also observed by parents, professionals, and peers. Findings are discussed with respect to variables to consider when teaching JA to children with ASD and their peers as well as the need to further examine the relationship between peer training and JA in children with autism.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s40617-018-0228-x