Investigating Gaze Behaviour of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Classroom Setting

Abstract

A defining feature of ASD is atypical gaze behaviour, however, eye-tracking studies in 'real-world' settings are limited, and the possibility of improving gaze behaviour for ASD children is largely unexplored. This study investigated gaze behaviour of ASD and typically developing (TD) children in their classroom setting. Eye-tracking technology was used to develop and pilot an operant training tool to positively reinforce typical gaze behaviour towards faces. Visual and statistical analyses of eye-tracking data revealed different gaze behaviour patterns during live interactions for ASD and TD children depending on the interaction type. All children responded to operant training with longer looking times observed on face stimuli post training. The promising application of operant gaze training in ecologically valid settings is discussed.

Keywords: Applied behaviour analysis; Autism; Behaviour change; Eye-tracking; Gaze behaviour; Social skills.

Fig. 1

a Participants’ perspective during a live dyadic social interaction. b Participants’ perspective during a live triadic social interaction

Fig. 2

Stills of dynamic stimuli; a single actor head shot, b single actor head shot (distractors), c single actor waist up (distractors), d single actor waist up, e female–female interaction (distractors), f female–female interaction, g female–male interaction (distractors), h female–male interaction, i adult–child interaction, j children playing

Fig. 3

Depiction of training phase having met the face fixation contingency

Fig. 4

Total dwell time on face AOI during baseline and re-test phases for each participant

Fig. 5

Latency data during training phase for TD participants

Fig. 6

Latency data during training phase for ASD participants

Fig. 7

Frequency data during baseline dyadic/triadic conditions for each participant