Getting anyone's attention is a prerequisite for being able to hold a good conversation with him or her, as anyone who parents or works with preteens or teenagers knows. It is absolutely necessary with individuals on the autistic spectrum because the achievement of what is called "joint attention" (the ability of children to respond to another person's request for shared attention or to request it themselves) is one of the skill deficiencies in people on the autism spectrum. Years of parenting taught the author how to get her son's attention about family matters, but what was happening at school highlighted the difficulties between him and his educators in ways that affected his classroom behavior. The author shares what she and her son learned about his needs and the needs of other children because it may shed light on helpful teaching practices in middle school, high school, and beyond, not only for students on the spectrum but other students as well. The achievement of joint attention--where two people communicate together about something--lies, after all, at the heart of academic life. In this article, the author describes how she uses her son's talents to teach him new skills and in the process learns something about teaching all students. (Contains 1 figure.)