Joint attention behaviors in typically developing children and children with autism during conversation

In this study, the joint attention behaviors exhibited by individuals with autism and typically developing individuals during conversation and whether these behaviors differed according to age, intelligence score, language score and level of being affected by autism were examined. The study is a descriptive and correlational research. A total of 100 individuals between the ages of 4-18, 50 with autism spectrum disorder and 50 with typical development, participated in the study. Two different conversational sessions were organized with all participants in the absence and presence of an object in the environment. Data were collected using a wearable eye-tracking system. Quantitative data collection and analysis methods were used in the study. The results of the study show that children with autism exhibited less eye contact, gaze shifting, and speaking in context, which are the joint attention behaviors examined in the study, than their typically developing peers. In the study, there was a positive correlation between the duration of eye contact with the partner when there was an object in the environment and age; and a negative correlation between the total number of gaze shifts and the level of being affected by autism in children with autism. In typically developing children, a significant positive correlation was observed between the number of eye contacts in case of presence of an object in the environment and age, total language score and receptive language score; between the total number of gaze shifts and age and receptive language score. The findings were discussed and recommendations were made in order to guide practitioners and researchers to define measurable and observable target behaviors and to determine success criteria for teaching joint attention behaviors exhibited during conversation to individuals with autism. Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, Typical development, Joint attention, Conversation, Eye tracking.