Joint attention

Also called Shared attention, Triadic attention, Joint engagement

Two people attending to the same thing, and both knowing it. It is the root that language grows from, and it can be grown at any age.

What it is

Joint attention is when two people are focused on the same thing and each knows the other is too. A baby looks at a dog, looks back at you, and looks at the dog again: that's it. So is following a point, and so is pointing to show you something rather than to ask for it.

It matters because words get learned in the moment of shared focus. If you say "dog" while the child is looking at the dog and knows you are too, "dog" attaches. If they're looking at the ceiling, it doesn't. Almost all early vocabulary arrives this way, which is why joint attention is called the foundation of language rather than one skill among many.

Who it can help

Understanding joint attention helps parents of babies, and anyone supporting a child whose attention is hard to share: autistic children, children with profound and multiple learning disabilities, children with a visual impairment (who share attention through touch and sound rather than gaze) and children with deafblindness.

It's not a test to pass. Autistic children often share attention differently, later, or through interests rather than gaze, and a child who doesn't look at your face may be sharing attention perfectly well by other means. Watch for the sharing, not the eye contact.

How it works

In typical development, babies follow a gaze from around six months, follow a point by around nine to twelve months, and point themselves, first to request and then to show, by around twelve to fourteen months. Showing is the big one: a point that says "look at that" rather than "give me that" is a purely social act, and it's the one that predicts language most strongly.

Joint attention can be built. Intensive Interaction does it by joining a person in what they're already doing until they notice you're there. Attention Autism does it with things so interesting nobody can look away. Following the lead is the everyday version: go where their attention already is, rather than pulling it to yours.

Getting started

Go to what they're looking at. If the child is watching the washing machine, sit and watch it too, and say something about it. That's joint attention, and you didn't have to redirect anyone.

Make a thing worth sharing. Bubbles, a wind-up toy, a torch in a dim room. Do it, pause, wait for them to look at you or the toy again, and only then do it again. The pause is where the sharing happens.

Name what's shared, once, simply. "Bubbles." Then again next time. Resist the running commentary; one word at the moment of shared focus beats twenty scattered ones.

Where to get help

The NHS learning to talk pages cover the first year. Your health visitor is the first person to ask if you're worried; the National Autistic Society if the question is about autism. The Intensive Interaction Institute trains parents and staff for people of any age.