Abstract: Objective To compare the joint attention among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), developmental delay (DD) and typically development (TD) to explore the characteristic of joint attention in children with ASD.Methods From October, 2015 to February, 2016, 28 ASD children, 15 DD children and 25 TD children were administered in joint attention tasks. The initiating joint attention (IJA) and the responding to joint attention (RJA) were recorded and analyzed.Results The frequence of both low and high level of IJA and the score of RJA were significantly less in the children with ASD than with TD (Z>3.063, P<0.001). The frequence of high level of IJA and RJA were less in the children with ASD than with DD (Z>2.925, P<0.017), and no significant difference was found in the frequence of low level of IJA (Z=-2.118, P>0.017). There was no significant difference in the frequence of both IJA and RJA between children with DD and TD (Z<1.328, P>0.017). The frequence of low level (r=-0.552, P=0.002) and high level (r=-0.805, P<0.001) of IJA, and the score of RJA (r=-0.857, P<0.001) were negatively correlated with the score of Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). No significant difference was found in the frequence of both IJA and RJA among ASD children with different ages (Z<4.816, P>0.05). The frequence was lower in the high level of IJA than in the low level of IJA in children with ASD (Z=2.787, P<0.01).Conclusion Children with ASD display deficits in IJA and RJA, especially in the high level of IJA. The features of joint attention are different in children with ASD, and correlate with the severity of autistic symptoms, instead of age.

Key words: autism spectrum disorders, joint attention, behavior evaluation