About the Study
This study examined the automatic use of visual cues in quasi-naturalistic contexts and their relationship to other areas of development, including language and social communication, to inform theories of information processing and social sources of variance
in orientation of gaze and shifting of attention.
Our findings suggest that children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have significant difficulties
establishing attention initially when compared to children who do not have an ASD. Establishing attention seems to be the clearest difference between ASD
and non-ASD groups. This supports the validity of establishing attention as a diagnostic feature of
ASD. Analysis of the aspects of joint attention tasks that seem to affect the performance of children with ASDs can inform the development of
diagnostic measures as well as intervention and program planning.
My Role
I coded, cleaned, and analyzed these data. As part of the data cleaning, I devised an internal logic system to prevent data entry errors and to accurately predict missing data. I also presented this research at the Society for Research in Child Development.
Timeline
Winter 2004 - Spring 2005
Funding
NIH
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