Objective　To analyze the joint attention characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Methods　2 - 6 years old children with ASD (n=43) are selected to assess their joint attention, and were compared with Gesell adaptive developmental age matched with healthy controls (n=15). Results　Adaptability age and sex ratio of the two groups showed no significant difference (P > 0.05), but physiological age showed significant difference (P < 0.05). Compared with the healthy controls with same developmental age, children with ASD have obvious defects in both initiative and responsive joint attention abilities (P <0.01). For children with ASD, their joint attention behavior and adaptability age are positively correlated (P <0.01), but initiative joint attention behavior is not correlated with adaptability age (P > 0.05). Conclusions　Children with ASD have obvious defects in both initiative and responsive joint attention abilities. With the improvement of adaptability age, the responsive joint attention ability may be increased correspondingly, while it is still difficult to improve initiative joint attention ability.