April marks the beginning of Autism Awareness Month. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) struggle with joint attention. Joint attention is also an important preverbal skill that develops within the first year of life. Joint attention means the ability to share focus of something with another person. Some skills important for joint attention include (Woods & Wetherby, 2003, p. 181):
· Orienting and attending to a social partner
· Shifting gaze between people and objects
· Sharing emotional states with another person
· Following the gaze and point of another
· Being able to draw a person’s attention to objects or events for the purpose of sharing experience.
Joint attention is necessary for communication, social skills, and to help develop language. Here are some of my favorite everyday items to use to help work on joint attention.
Oatmeal container (with the bottom cut out), paper towel roll, toilet paper roll
How to use it:
Take out the paper towel roll and show it to your child. If they are interested let them hold it and look at it. To create joint attention you can bring the roll up to your eyes and look through the roll. Then you move the roll away and see if your child’s eye gaze follows the paper towel roll and then shifts back to your expression. You can also vocalize through the roll, or you can take another small toy, like a train or car, and drop it through the roll.
Slinky
How to use it:
Show the child the slinky. Bring the slinky up to your eyes or mouth so the child does not have to shift his attention far. Make the slinky long and short, or move it away from your face and see if your child is able to follow the slinky and then look back at your expression. You can also have the child hold one end of the slinky and together you can shake it up and down. It is always fun to put funny sound effects or songs to the movement of the slinky to start encouraging vocalizations.
Boxes or Bags
How to use them:
Boxes and bags are so much fun and can eventually lead to so much language! Show the child your box, and bring it up to your face to help decrease the distance the child has to shift his attention. Then shake the box. If something is in the box it should make a sound that will hopefully capture the child’s attention more. From here you can decide what to do. You can move the box away from your face and see if your child shifts his attention to the box and then back up to your face. Another option is to open the box and take out the object that is in the box. Can the child shift his attention from the new object and back to your face?
Balloons or Bubbles
How to use them:
Show the child the balloon, and bring it up to your face. Blow up the balloon, hold it, and pull it slowly away from your face. See if your child’s attention shifts to follow the balloon and then back to your face. Next, you can slowly let air out of the balloon to pop it. Once the balloon is deflated see if the child shifts his attention from the balloon to you. Similarly with the bubbles, blow the bubbles and see if the child will follow the bubbles to pop them. Once the bubbles pop will he look back at you? If this does not work you can blow the bubbles and catch one on the wand. See if the child can shift his attention from the bubble on the wand to your facial expression.
What are your favorite activities to do to help create joint attention?
Resource
Woods, J. J., & Wetherby, A. M. (2003). Early identification of and intervention for infants and toddlers who are at risk for autism spectrum disorder. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, vol. 34, p. 180-193.