Joint Attention
Between 9 and 12 months babies begin to develop joint attention. This is an important milestone for young children.
Joint attention is when two people are interested in an object, event, or something in the environment and there is an understanding that they are both interested in that thing. For example, a child may look at a toy, look at their parent and then look back at the toy. This shows that they are aware of and enjoy knowing that their parent is looking at the same thing as them.
Joint attention has a few pre-requisite skills:
Enjoyment of social interaction with others
Discovery of objects in the environment
Ability to tell where someone is looking
Action directed towards an object (this is the fancy way of saying playing with toys)
Joint attention becomes possible and enjoyable when babies are able to integrate all of these skills together.
Joint attention is essential for language, social and cognitive development.
For majority of children this skill develops naturally during play and happy social interactions with parents and caregivers. I break joint attention into two categories:
Initiating joint attention. This is when a child shows you something or maybe even brings you an object or toy to play with, with them. For typically developing children they will initiate joint attention before they will respond to it.
Responding to bids for joint attention. This is when you point out something interesting in the environment, the child looks at it and then looks back to you and makes eye contact to confirm that they are noticing what you are. Just looking at what you are pointing at is not enough. For it to truly be joint attention you need that third piece of looking back at you and making eye contact. Interestingly, research has shown children with Autism often develop this type of joint attention first because it can be explicitly taught.
Joint attention is a fascinating skill that brings together many different areas of development.
Here are some simple ways to help promote joint attention with your child:
Follow their lead. Talk to children about objects and events that have caught their attention.
Point to objects that your child is familiar with or interest in.
Face-to-face interaction. When playing with your child sit face to face instead of next to so that they can see you.
Imitate what your baby says and does to reinforce those vocalizations and gestures.
Make eye contact frequently with your child during play.