Autism spectrum disorder and impaired joint attention: A review of joint attention research from the past decade

Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been found to have impaired joint attention (JA), which is considered key for learning social communication. This study reviewed the JA literature from the past decade to explore the generality of the deficit and looked at the JA assessment methods to see whether children's interests and preferences that may impact the results had been taken into account. While this review found evidence of impaired JA, it also found evidence of intact JA skills at the individual and group levels, indicating a non-uniform impairment of JA. A largely homogeneous assessment methodology within the published research was discovered, and no study reported using children's interests to create the assessment situation. The finding of JA skill variation between and within groups and individuals suggests that JA is within the scope of the learning capabilities of individuals with ASD. Due to the JA skill variation, we suggest that reporting individual data among group data to be an important aspect. We also propose that the uniform testing methods for JA might not be bringing to the surface all the capabilities held by individuals with ASD, and hence, individualized assessments based on preferences are suggested.

Keywords::

• autism
• joint attention
• literature review

Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the Academy of Finland, as a part of the CASCATE-project (Children with Autism Spectrum disorders as Creative Actors in a strength-based Technology-enhanced learning Environment), Grant No. 140450.