Sensitivity and initiative of mother and child as conditions for building joint attention

Abstract

Background. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the early childhood period in a child’s development. During this period, the foundations are formed: attitude to oneself, adults and the surrounding world, there is an active development of physical and mental functions. The determining factor in the development of a young child is the nature of communication with a close adult and joint activities with him. In a number of studies, the process of joint attention appears as such interaction, which is defined as directing the attention of an adult and a child to the same goal, an object in space. At present, the conditions for building joint attention in the process of interaction between a close adult and a young child are insufficiently described, which does not allow typologizing this process, diagnosing it, and designing development programs. In our study, as conditions for building joint attention, we propose to consider the indicators of sensitivity and initiative of the mother and child, which manifest themselves in the process of interaction and are built in different relationships, which allows us to determine the types of joint attention. Objective. To show how joint attention is built with different indicators of initiative and sensitivity of the mother and young child. Sample. The empirical study was conducted on a sample of 29 couples (mother and child from one to three years old) attending group classes on early development in a family center. Methods. Based on L.S. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical concept of development and John Bowlby’s theory of attachment, a criterion- evaluation assessment of the interaction of mother and child in a couple according to the indicators of sensitivity and initiative has been developed and described. For each indicator, the authors’ research and substantial justifications are given. Results. Four types of interaction between mothers and young children and an assessment of joint attention in each type of interaction are identified and presented. These studies allow us to see the basic conditions for building the process of joint attention, to consider their role and impact on the result and its quality. Conclusions. The highlighted conditions for building joint attention allow us to build educational programs for working with pairs of mothers and children, which can be aimed at developing its components: increasing the mother’s sensitivity to the child’s sensitivity and initiative, actualizing pleasure in interaction, developing mothers’ initiative, and expanding the methods for stimulating the child’s initiative.

Keywords

• joint attention
• adult sensitivity
• adult initiative
• child sensitivity
• child initiative