Joint attention is a form of behavior where two people interact by jointly focusing on a particular object or an event. In this way, joint behavior is a kind of early development of social and communicative behavior.
The idea behind joint attention (also known as shared attention) is to instill and develop the ability to gain attention, maintain attention, and shift attention. This can be done by the two people sharing a common focus on another person, an object, or even a concept. This can be a parent and a child looking at a toy they are playing with. It could be the parent and the child looking at a plane flying overhead. This may be accomplished by the use of simple visual contact, gestures (such as pointing or otherwise physically indicating), and vocalizations(such as saying “Look over there!” or “Can you see that?”).
Early expressions of joint attention skills can be like a child putting their arms upwards to be picked up by one of their parents. It can also look like the child looking at the words in a book as their parent reads the words out to them. As the child develops, joint attention can look like focusing on a game or requesting a toy or food by pointing at it, eventually asking for the item by name.
What Is Joint Attention?
Two Modes of Joint Attention
Joint attention occurs in two ways:
- Your child initiates the interaction. For example, your child points to a toy and then indicates to you to look at the toy, too. A younger child might look at you to try to get your attention and then redirect that attention to the toy. An older child can vocalize their request (by saying, “Look at that”). If your child initiates joint attention, it could signify that they are socially motivated.
- You (or another caregiver) initiate the attempt to secure joint attention, and your child responds to it. This could be you pointing at a toy and saying, “Look at the toy!” If your child is socially motivated, they would respond by looking where you are looking and where you are pointing to ultimately look at the toy. For many children, responding to joint attention is easier than initiating joint attention.
Why Is Joint Attention Important?
Joint attention is important because it is a vital component in the development of cognitive and social communication skills. In neurotypical children, joint attention skills start to come together soon after birth. By their third birthday, these children are generally capable of gaining and maintaining joint attention with other children of their age and with adults.
In cases of delayed development, where the child’s joint attention skills do not form as expected, it can be difficult for such a child to develop relationships with other children of their age and with their caregivers. This can further stunt their interactions.
Joint attention is important because of its role in developing critical social skills, such as fostering connections and seeing another person’s point of view (literally at first and metaphorically as cognitive and social skills continue to grow).
Joint Attention & Autism
Neurodiverse children will likely struggle with joint attention because of difficulties interacting while simultaneously paying attention to an object and another person. This is how (and why) children with autism do not always have social interaction and communication with other people. It is why a person with autism struggles to articulate their needs.
For neurotypical people, joint attention comes naturally. F a neurodiverse person, especially a child, there are many factors in joint attention to consider, including:
- Acknowledging a social partner (like a parent or a caregiver).
- Moving their gaze between the social partner and the target object.
- Sharing an emotional state with the partner.
- Following the gaze and gesture of the partner.
- Being able to secure a partner’s attention to objects or events to share the experience and emotional state of looking at the object or event.
Joint Attention Activities
How can you encourage joint attention? There are several ways parents and caregivers can stimulate joint attention skills.
- Encourage your child to make consistent eye contact with you and focus on your face when you are speaking. In addition to being socially appropriate to look at someone who is talking to you, faces provide many social and nonverbal cues for joint attention. A neurodiverse child can find making eye contact especially difficult, so this goal will likely require much work.
- Complete an activity together, especially one where your child will have to shift their attention between objects.
- Practice taking turns with joint attention. In one round, you can initiate the attention, and in the following round, it will be your child’s turn to make the first move. Find a natural, comfortable setting in which to practice and develop joint attention. Start with simple items and tasks, and with a behavior analyst’s guidance, gradually move to more complex forms of shared interaction.
- Encourage your child to shift their attention away from the toy or retreat they’re playing with to look at what you’re holding.
- Be animated with your facial expressions, tone of voice, and your gestures to help establish joint attention quickly and maintain it for the duration of the exercise.
- Try to use items that your child enjoys playing with to keep their interest. Then start experimenting with newer or lesser-used toys.
Joint attention practice can be made part of your daily routine, like brushing teeth.
Other Ways to Encourage Joint Attention
Bubble blowing is an activity that brings together many components of joint attention development. The child can follow the trajectory of different bubbles, share the bubble-blower, pay attention to your cues on which bubble to look at, and try the exercise in the home and outdoors.
Following what your child is doing can help when working on joint attention. In the Autism journal, researchers noted children on the autism spectrum tended to initiate joint engagement with their parents when parents were responsive during interactions. For example, the parents would let their child choose the activity, respond to the child’s messages, let the child direct the interaction (and not assume responsibility themselves), and keep the interaction fun and positive.
When your child shows an interest in the object, reward that interest by mimicking it. Make enthusiastic, supportive comments (with appropriate body language and facial gestures) and copy their actions. Offer them praise for how they initiate or respond to joint attention. Be specific; a phrase like “Good job chasing the bubble and popping it!” does more to establish the desired habits than simply “Good job!”
These steps can foster a deep connection with your child and encourage them to initiate joint attention more.
Joint Attention Therapy & ABA
How can applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy help with joint attention? A board-certified behavioral analyst (BCBA) will begin by establishing a level of attention competence in a natural setting with your child.
Once that level has been set, the BCBA will work on simple joint attention exercises. For example, they may start by pointing to an object in the room. Then they may move on to more structurally complex attention exercises, such as asking your child to retrieve an object as directed by their parent at home.
As much as the more advanced exercises are intended to continue building on your child’s aptitude for joint attention, they are also meant to foster a closer bond between you and your child. Asking the child to follow your directions, for example, or encouraging the child to initiate the attention interaction (and then responding appropriately) will help solidify the lessons of the joint attention exercise.
This can help create a stronger parent-child connection.
Joint attention is a key component of ABA therapy (and all forms of child development) because it finesses a child’s ability to shift their attention between objects, people, and events. By incorporating parents into the exercises, joint attention creates an understanding that parents and children are sharing a moment of directed attention toward a stimulus and that this sharing is beneficial and purposeful for all involved.
Joint Attention Therapy & Bonding With Your Child
Joint attention is a critical social skill essential in ABA therapy and neurodiverse development. It is a building block of communication (shared attention and engagement) in that it leads to listening, which leads to understanding and using language, and which — especially in the case of nonverbal children — eventually leads to talking.
When practiced regularly with a parent, joint attention is a key component of familial interaction and bonding.
References
Joint Attention and Children With Autism: A Review of the Literature. (December 2004). Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews.
The Relationship Between Joint Attention and Theory of Mind in Neurotypical Adults. (May 2017). Consciousness and Cognition.
Joint Attention and Early Language. (December 1986). Child Development.
Why Does Joint Attention Look Atypical in Autism? (December 2014). Child Development Perspectives.
Randomized Controlled Caregiver Mediated Joint Engagement Intervention for Toddlers With Autism. (September 2010). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Anticipatory Smiling: Linking Early Affective Communication and Social Outcome. (January 2009). Infant Behavior and Development.
The Association Between Parental Interaction Style and Children’s Joint Engagement in Families With Toddlers With Autism. (April 2015). Autism.
Trusting Relationships Are Central to Children’s Learning — Lessons From Edward Tronick. (December 2011). Huffington Post.
