The collateral effects of joint attention training on social initiations, positive affect, imitation, and spontaneous speech for young children with autism.
Joint-attention lessons give preschoolers with autism extra social wins for free.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Whalen et al. (2006) ran a 10-week joint-attention program for preschoolers with autism.
They checked each child before and after to see if untrained social skills also improved.
What they found
Kids started more games, smiled more, copied actions, played better, and used new words.
All gains showed up without extra teaching—just the joint-attention lessons.
How this fits with other research
Eisenhower et al. (2006) got the same boost in language the same year, but used short DTT drills instead of a 10-week package.
Rutherford et al. (2007) then showed that early joint-attention scores predict later pretend play, proving the skill acts as a developmental driver.
Boudreau et al. (2015) looked at kids without training and saw low play and shared focus—seemingly opposite results. The difference is simple: one group got help, the other did not.
Why it matters
If you run joint-attention lessons, watch for free bonuses like new words and first-time play acts. Track these extras in your session notes—they may meet other goals without extra plans.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Joint attention may be a core deficit in autism which underlies the abnormal development of later emerging social-communication behaviors. Given this theory, researchers have suggested that teaching young children with autism to engage in joint attention may lead to collateral increases in other non-targeted social-communication behaviors. In this study, children with autism participated in a 10-week joint attention training program and collateral changes in non-targeted behaviors were assessed. Following participation in the intervention, positive collateral changes were observed in social initiations, positive affect, imitation, play, and spontaneous speech. Results support the hypothesis that teaching joint attention skills leads to improvement in a variety of related skills and have implications for the treatment of young children with autism.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2006 · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0108-z