Joint attention is considered one of the fundamental deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders, and in the recent years there has been published several studies based on applied behavior analysis providing joint attention interventions.
For some years there has been conducted a large rendomized controlled study in Norway on joint attention intervention for children with autism. This study ins not solely based on behavior analysis, but on the works of Kasari and collegaues. Read more…
The need for research using randomized groups have been great in the field of autism intervention. And in volume 52:1 of Journal of child psychology and psychiatry Landa, Holman, O’Niell and Stuart have published a randomized study on socially synchronous engagement in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder.
In their study their randomized fifty two years old children with autism spectrum disorders. The two groups received identical treatment based on established teaching strategies such as discrete trial teaching and pivotal response treatment, but one group (interpersonal synchrony) received a supplementary curriculum on engaged imitation, joint attention and affect sharing.
The study showed a significant effect for the interpersonal synchrony group on engaged imitation (including eye contact). The study also showed positive results on joint attention and affect sharing, but not statistically significant.