Yale Study Looks at Eye Contact in Children with Autism
Thursday, August 14, 2008
By: Carin Yavorcik

Researchers see "window into social development"

Though lack of eye contact has long been one of the early warning signs of autism, a new study published in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry recently addressed this fact and confirmed it scientifically.

"Just as the eyes are the window to the soul, the eyes are also a window into social development," study senior author Ami Klin, director of the autism program at Yale University School of Medicine, told HealthDay News.

The study compared a group of 2-year-olds: 15 with autism, 36 typically developing peers, and 15 with developmental delays other than autism. Researchers used “eye-mapping technology” to assess the children as they were shown videos of adults looking into the camera as if they were playing with the children.

“They found that children with autism spent significantly less time looking at the eyes than did typically developing children or the developmentally delayed group. Autistic children looked at the eyes about 30 percent of the time, compared to nearly 55 percent for both of the other groups,” stated the article. “Eye fixation in children with autism also appeared to predict the level of social disability. Those who had greater social disabilities spent less time looking at the eye area.”