Clinic Notes: Eye Tracking and Autism

Clinically, I think a lack of eye contact or infrequent and un-sustained eye contact is a good indicator of autism in young children. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine tracked eye movements in toddlers and found that those with autism spent significantly more time looking at geometric patterns than social pictures. The children who spent more than 69% of their time looking at the geometric patterns could be diagnosed with autism. Some of these infants were as young as 14 months. This could turn out to be a useful diagnostic tool.