What is Joint Attention?
Have you ever noticed a toddler pointing at something exciting and looking back at you, seemingly checking in to see if you're sharing in their discovery? That moment is joint attention, and it's foundational to how we learn and connect!
Joint attention is the coordination of attention between objects and people for the purpose of sharing. It’s a key developmental milestone that often goes unnoticed until the stage of development where it’s clearly missing. For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities, difficulties with joint attention can significantly impact language development, social relationships, and overall learning.
Why It Matters: Why We Need to Target Joint Attention Skills
Joint attention isn't just a nice-to-have social skill. It's the gateway to so much of early childhood development. When a child engages in joint attention, there’s actually so much going on! They're observing an object and event, they’re feeling motivated to share it with someone, and they’re learning to coordinate their attention with another person intentionally. This skill is what underlies language acquisition, because much of how children learn words is by observing what adults are looking at or pointing to. They see a caregiver's gaze, follow it to an object, and learn the label for what other people call it. Without joint attention, this natural learning pathway is disrupted.
Research has examined social interaction, joint attention, and affect expression in children with autism, Down syndrome, and other developmental disabilities. The findings in research are clear: when joint attention is delayed or absent, children often experience difficulties in language, social skills, and academic readiness.
This is why targeting joint attention early matters so much. A treatment focused on early social-communication deficits of joint attention and play showed that improvements in these core deficits could also increase the child's use of language. By addressing joint attention directly, you’re able to target the foundation that supports language growth, peer relationships, and independent learning.
Building Joint Attention Skills with JASPER
The great news is that joint attention can be taught and strengthened through intentional, evidence-based interventions such as UCLA’s JASPER.
JASPER (Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation) is an evidence-based social communication intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder developed by UCLA’s Connie Kasari of the Kasari Lab. Over the past 20 years, JASPER has been tested in randomized controlled trials involving nearly 700 children with ASD, with studies showing improvements in joint engagement, social communication, and emotion regulation. JASPER is one of the most evidence-based interventions for promoting joint attention skills in autistic children.
JASPER works by targeting the foundations of social communication in a manner that is natural and playful. Rather than drilling skills in isolation or exclusively following the child’s lead without added structure, JASPER embeds intentional teaching within everyday activities and play, which are the contexts where children naturally learn best. The approach is grounded in both developmental and behavioral principles to best target key areas of joint attention skills.
Research examining relations among joint attention, amount of intervention, and language gain in autism found meaningful connections between improved joint attention and increased language development. When children learn to coordinate attention with others, they can make the most of natural opportunities to acquire vocabulary, understand social communication, and participate even more within the world around them.
Where Can I find a JASPER therapist?
JASPER is available through certified clinicians found via their website, www.jaspertraining.org.
If you're interested in JASPER therapy in New York City, our founder Nicole is a certified provider of JASPER therapy. She has 10 years of experience learning under and working directly with the founder of JASPER, UCLA’s Connie Kasari. As a speech therapist, she blends JASPER therapy with a deep knowledge of speech and language development to promote language and communication in young children.
Here are the steps:
Initial Assessment: We'll start by getting to know your child and understanding their current strengths and challenges around joint attention, play, and social communication. We’ll observe how they engage with materials, adults, and (if applicable) peers, and we'll talk about your specific goals and priorities.
Personalized Plan: Based on the assessment, we will develop a customized JASPER plan tailored to your child's needs and your family's context. This might include one-on-one sessions, coaching for parents, peer group work, or a combination of approaches.
Ongoing Sessions: Whether we're working one-on-one or in group settings, sessions will be dynamic, playful, and focused on building real skills in real contexts. We’ll regularly monitor progress and adjust strategies based on what we're learning about your child.
Parent Collaboration: Research shows that caregiver strategy use is one of the most powerful ways to support lasting change. We can coach you and any of your child’s caregivers on use of JASPER strategies so skills generalize across settings and people.
Progress Monitoring: We'll track progress on joint attention, engagement, play complexity, and language outcomes, so you can see the impact over time.
Reach Out with Questions: If you want to learn more about JASPER, how it might fit into your child's current support plan, or whether it's the right fit for your family, we’re here to talk. You can schedule a free consultation call, or contact us at nicole@saltwaterspeech.com or (909)362-4895.
Currently, services are available in-home and in-school in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, Park Slope, Tribeca, and the Upper East Side.
References
Bono, M.A., Daley, T., & Sigman, M. (2004). Relations among joint attention, amount of intervention and language gain in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 495–505.
Kasari, C., Freeman, S., & Paparella, T. (2006). Joint attention and symbolic play in young children with autism: A randomized controlled intervention study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 611–620.
Kasari, C., Gulsrud, A. C., Shire, S. Y., & Strawbridge, C. (2022). The JASPER model for children with autism: Promoting joint attention, symbolic play, engagement, and regulation. The Guilford Press.
Mundy, P., Sigman, M., & Kasari, C. (1990). A longitudinal study of joint attention and language development in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 20, 115–128.
JASPER Training. (n.d.). About JASPER. Retrieved from https://www.jaspertraining.org/about