The direction of an infant's gaze could indicate early signs of autism

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University in the United States observed children at four, six, eight, ten and 12-months-old to determine how much attention babies pay to the eyes and mouth of a person when they are talking.

The team played videos of a woman to the children who could be seen and heard talking.
While the videos played, the researchers recorded the children’s eye gaze with an eye tracking device and recorded how much time they spent looking at the eyes and mouth of the woman.

They found that the younger children, who were in the ‘babbling phase’, focused on the woman’s mouth when talking, which they continued to do for several months until they had basic speech when they focused more on the eyes of the woman.

As well as offering new insights into speech development in early childhood, the authors claim, that the findings could be used to diagnose autism spectrum disorder in children earlier than is currently possible.

At present, the earliest age at which a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder can be made is around 18-months-old.

An indictor of autism is that by two-years of age, autistic children focus their attention on the mouth of a talker, whereas typically developing children focus on the eyes.

However, in light of the findings, the researchers claim that focusing on a talker’s eyes rather than their mouth at 12-months-old could be an early signal that a child is at risk of developing autism.