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Joint Attention

480 Words2 Pages

In the article, Joint Attention- Making Eye Contact a Reinforcer, J. Castellani outlines the importance of joint attention. Castellani goes on to highlight a few examples of ways a parent can build this social reinforcement. Research has linked joint attention to future development of skills, including symbolic abilities, language abilities, and general social-cognitive processes. Joint attention is an essential foundation skill and holds the potential of a significant breakthrough in interventions for children with autism. (("Joint Attention - Making Eye Contact a Reinforcer - Behavior Analysts Tampa: ABA Therapy, Autism, Behavior Problems, ADHD/Learning Disabilities," n.d.) The article outlines that the first step of joint attention is …show more content…

The article states that you would sit the child down and would have a preferred item. The child is to make eye contact, then through jointly looking or nodding, request the item. If the student were to just reach for the item and overlook the person, the item is removed. The article uses this standard to condition the child to look for eye contact before the item, for the student to seek out joint attention.
Review
This article is an excellent outline on joint attention. Castellani gives a very detailed description of her protocol and the benefits of implementing this system. The protocol aligns well with speech training as well as the use of PECS. The article outlines the need for a communitive partner in our communication.
Working with special needs children of varies ages, the need for joint attention is vital. A student needs to be able to seek out a person to deliver a message and not just announce to the world their need. This article brings social reinforcement, eye contact, and interaction into the world of the student. Autistic students do not always make this connect and the article helps teach society one way to introduce this skill. The earlier this skill is introduced, the more progress a student can make during their developmental

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