Teaching · Speech & Language

Count the moments a child shares attention, and the ones they miss.

During twenty minutes of play or snack, tap a counter each time the child follows your point or look, shows you something just to share it, or reaches to get something. The summary shows how many bids were followed, how often the child started sharing, and what to teach next.

Start an observationWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Speech & Language toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The observation

One observation per session. Use initials or a code, never a name. Tap counters work on a phone or tablet. The example is made up.

Loading the form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · Speech & Language$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each observation, counts of bids followed by kind, sharing acts by kind and requests by kind, with minutes, partner and activities, and a summary with the response rate, sharing per ten minutes, the sharing-to-requesting balance and the next teaching target.
Who it is for
Speech-language pathologists, early childhood special education teachers and early intervention providers observing young children’s early social communication.
Format
Browser organizer with tap counters. Several saved records; printed with the summary or as a blank paper form; CSV with one row per observation; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Speech & Language toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Speech & Language space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
Drawn for this page. Joint attention is two people looking at the same thing because of each other, which is where shared words begin.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with the child’s initials or a code and the date.
  2. Note the minutes, partner, activities and the languages used with the child.
  3. During the observation, count every bid you or the partner make, and tap a counter each time the child follows one.
  4. Tap a counter each time the child shows, gives, points or looks to share, and each time they ask for something.
  5. Write what you saw, then read the next teaching target. Observe again in a few weeks with Copy to a new date.

Start an observation

What the organizer is for

Two directions

Responding to joint attention is following someone else’s point or look to share what they see. Initiating it is the child starting the sharing: holding up a toy, pointing at an airplane, looking from the bubbles to you and back. Both matter for language, because words are learned in shared moments. Children usually follow before they start.

Sharing is not requesting

A child can point a great deal to get things and still rarely point to share. The organizer counts the two apart so a high count of requests does not hide little sharing.

No norms, no diagnosis

The counts describe one observation. They are not compared with norms and do not show autism or any other condition; a team evaluation does that. Use them to choose a teaching target and to see change over time. Records use a code, never a name, and stay in this browser.

Sources

  1. Mundy, P., and Newell, L. (2007). Attention, joint attention, and social cognition. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(5), 269–274.
  2. Kasari, C., Freeman, S., and Paparella, T. (2006). Joint attention and symbolic play in young children with autism: A randomized controlled intervention study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(6), 611–620.
  3. Carpenter, M., Nagell, K., and Tomasello, M. (1998). Social cognition, joint attention, and communicative competence from 9 to 15 months of age. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 63(4).
  4. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Practice Portal: Autism, on social communication in young children (asha.org/practice-portal).
  5. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 34 CFR Part 99; Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C (early intervention) and Part B section 619 (preschool).

The example child is made up. The organizer records counts from an observation; it has no norms, does not screen for or diagnose any condition and holds no state rules. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.