Gaze performance in children with autism spectrum disorder when observing communicative actions.

Researchers watched 2- to young learners with and without autism. They used eye-tracking cameras while kids looked at videos of people pointing or looking at toys.

The team measured how fast and how accurately each child followed the gaze. They also gave tests for language and daily living skills.

Kids with autism were slower to shift their eyes and less accurate when following someone else's gaze.

For children with autism, poorer accuracy went hand-in-hand with lower communication scores. Slower eye shifts matched lower verbal IQ scores.

Bigham et al. (2013) ran a similar lab task and got the same basic result: autistic preschoolers lag in gaze following. The new twist here is linking the lag to real-world communication scores.

Wan et al. (2019) took the same eye-tracking data and built a 10-second screener that spots autism with a large share accuracy. Falck-Ytter et al. (2012) gives the groundwork for that tool by showing which gaze measures matter.

Muth et al. (2014) adds that autistic kids also miss the boost most kids get after seeing two people make eye contact. Together, the studies say: check both accuracy and the social context cues.

If a child with autism struggles to follow your gaze, expect weaker daily communication skills. Use quick eye-tracking games or simple pointing tasks during intake. Note both speed and accuracy—these two numbers can flag kids who need extra social attention training.