Promoting Joint Attention in Children with Visual Impairment: Proposing an Intervention Using Modified Strategies from Joint Attention Symbolic Play Engagement Regulation (JASPER).

Joint attention is developmental skill that is typically acquired through visual input during the first year of life in typically developing children.Children with visual impairments develop joint attention through alternate senses such as tactile and auditory input (Baron-Cohen, 1995) and show joint attention behaviors unlike those of typically developing children (Herrera, 2015).Both factors can lead to delayed or disorder joint attention in children with visual impairments.Children with visual impairments and additional disabilities are at higher risk for disorders of joint attention due to co-occurring disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, which compound the difficulty in developing joint attention.There are no known interventions to address disorders of joint attention in children with visual impairments and additional disabilities.This study used a multiple baseline single subject research design to determine if modified strategies from Joint Attention Symbolic Play Engagement Regulation (JASPER; Kasari, Freeman, Paparella 2006), are an effective joint attention intervention for children with visual impairment and additional disabilities.Four subjects with varied levels of visual impairment and additional disabilities participated in the intervention over 15-weeks, 2-3 time per week for 20-30 minutes, within a school setting.All subjects showed improvement in the level and the duration of time spent in joint attention engagement.Results suggest that