title: Brief report: High and low level initiations of joint attention, and response to joint attention: differential relationships with language and imitation.
abstract: Frequency of high-level (showing/pointing) and low-level (coordinated gaze shifts) behaviors on the Early Social Communication Scales are often used as a measure of joint attention initiations (IJA). This study examined the degree to which these skills and response to joint attention (RJA; e.g. gaze following) were differentially related to measures of language and imitation in 53 children with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 22 and 93 months. High-level and low-level IJA were not associated with each other, and only high-level IJA was associated with RJA, and language and imitation measures. High-level IJA and RJA were unique predictors of imitation, while RJA was a unique predictor of language. Findings indicate that IJA involves distinct skills, with high-level behaviors more closely related to social-communication skills.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 316 Physics Road, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA, pickar11@msu.edu.
authors.forename: Katherine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Pickard
authors.forename: Brooke R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Ingersoll
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007223:Infant; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007802:Language; D008297:Male