This study, conducted by Peter Mundy, Marian Sigman, and Connie Kasari from the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences, aimed to investigate the relationship between gestural joint attention skills and language development in autistic children. The study involved 15 autistic children (mean corrected age = 45 months) who were matched with mentally retarded (MR) children on either mental age or language age. The Early Social-Communication Scales were used to assess gestural requesting, joint attention, and social behaviors. The results showed that autistic children exhibited deficits in gestural joint attention skills, even when controlling for language level, mental age, or IQ. Additionally, gestural nonverbal joint attention was a significant predictor of language development in the autistic sample, while other variables such as initial language level and IQ were not significant predictors. The study highlights the importance of gestural joint attention skills in the development of language in autistic children and suggests that these skills may be a key factor in early intervention efforts.This study, conducted by Peter Mundy, Marian Sigman, and Connie Kasari from the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences, aimed to investigate the relationship between gestural joint attention skills and language development in autistic children. The study involved 15 autistic children (mean corrected age = 45 months) who were matched with mentally retarded (MR) children on either mental age or language age. The Early Social-Communication Scales were used to assess gestural requesting, joint attention, and social behaviors. The results showed that autistic children exhibited deficits in gestural joint attention skills, even when controlling for language level, mental age, or IQ. Additionally, gestural nonverbal joint attention was a significant predictor of language development in the autistic sample, while other variables such as initial language level and IQ were not significant predictors. The study highlights the importance of gestural joint attention skills in the development of language in autistic children and suggests that these skills may be a key factor in early intervention efforts.