Establishing joint visual attention and pointing in autistic children withno functional language

Joint visual attention is defined as looking where someone else is looking. The purpose of this study was to examine the conditions for establishing j oint visual attention in autistic children who have no functional speech. A n experimenter, sitting facing the child, looked at one of six pictures nea r the child. Analysis showed that joint visual attention to stimuli behind the child and therefore outside of the visual field occurred at a higher ra te when the visual angle between the stimuli was about 60 degrees. Spontane ous pointing at the target object increased with training which included fe edback and physical guidance. These results are discussed in terms oi the e ffects of environmental variables and perceptual mechanisms on the emergenc e of joint visual attention in autistic children. The possibility of using an adult's social cues and expanding the child's visual field as a remedial procedure is also addressed.