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Targets and cues: Gaze-following in children with autism

Leekam, Sue R., Hunnisett, Emma, Moore, Christopher H. (1998) Targets and cues: Gaze-following in children with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39 (7). pp. 951-962. ISSN 0021-9630. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:17419)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.

Abstract

Children with autism are known to have difficulties in sharing attention with others. Yet one joint attention behaviour, the ability to follow another person's head turn and gaze direction, may be achieved without necessarily sharing attention. Why, then, should autistic children have difficulties with it? In this study we examined the extent of this difficulty by testing school-aged autistic children across three different contexts; experiment, observation, and parent interview. We also tested whether the ability to orient to another person's head and gaze could be facilitated by increasing children's attention to environmental targets and social cues. Results for experiment and observation demonstrate that a sizeable proportion of children with autism did not have difficulties with following another's head turn. There was a difference between children with high and low verbal mental ages, however. Whereas children with higher mental ages (over 48 months) were able to orient spontaneously to another person's head turn, children with lower mental ages had difficulties with this response. When cues were added (pointing, language) or when feedback from targets was given, however, their performance improved. Parent interview data indicated that children with autism, whatever their mental age, began to follow head turn and gaze direction years later than typically developing children. Developments in attention and language are proposed as possible factors to account for this developmental delay.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled keywords: Autism; attention; nonverbal communication; gaze-following; joint attention.
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: M.A. Ziai
Date Deposited: 29 Jun 2011 08:12 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:55 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/17419 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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