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Play and Joint Attention of Children with Autism in the Preschool Special Education Classroom

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine play and joint attention in children with autism (n=27) as compared to children with other developmental delays (n=28) in public preschool special education classrooms. The participants were observed in their classroom environment for 2 h over 3 separate days. Results show that children with autism spent more of their time unengaged and less time engaged in symbolic play and joint attention behaviors as compared to children with other developmental delays. Additionally, teachers seldom focused directly on symbolic play and joint attention in their teaching. These findings suggest the importance of educating teachers to target play and joint attention skills in their preschool special education classes, specifically for children with autism.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the children, families, and teachers who participated in this study and the research assistants who helped gather and code these data: Eric Ishijima, Kimberly Ochs, and Alisha Patel. This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted by the first author, under supervision of the second author, at the University of California, Los Angeles. This research was supported in part by a training grant from the National Institutes of Health, NIMH grant MH064927(Connie Kasari), and Autism Speaks grant 2373 (Connie Wong).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, CB8040, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27510, USA

    Connie Wong

  2. Psychological Studies in Education, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Connie Wong

  3. Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Connie Kasari

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  1. Connie Wong
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  2. Connie Kasari
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Correspondence to Connie Wong.

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Wong, C., Kasari, C. Play and Joint Attention of Children with Autism in the Preschool Special Education Classroom. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 2152–2161 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1467-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1467-2

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