الفهرس 
Joint AttentionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 172 |  |  |
| | | from | 172 | | |
Abstract
Background: Joint attention (JA) is a basic social communicative skill important for language development. JA def cits appear prior to language acquisition. Because autism is often not diagnosed until a child is three or four years of age, it is important to look for indicators prior to language acquisition such as JA to provide appropriate treatment at a younger age. Therefore,
the aim of this study is to construct an objective tool for assessment of joint attention skills in young Egyptian children to detect the presence of autistic behaviour in high-risk children in order to conduct plans for early intervention. The questionnaire was constructed to assess the fve main components of JA and was termed Egyptian Joint Attention Questionnaire. The questions were formulated in the colloquial Egyptian Arabic language and in an ‘easy-to understand’ design that would be comprehensible by mothers. No question was directly trans lated from another questionnaire. Ten typically developing (TD) children, with an age range of 18–54
months, were included in the pilot study of the test design. It was applied to 90 TD children and 30 autistic children (contrast group) within the same age range. Participant’s responses were statistically analysed to assess the validity and reliability of the questionnaire and to compare the responses related to TD children and autistic children.
Results: There was high internal consistency and reliability of the questionnaire (Cronbach’s α=0.9, Intra-class cor relation=.776), with a statistically signifcant diference between TD and autistic children (P