Impaired representational gaze following in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Congiu et al. (2016) watched kids with and without autism play an eye-tracking game.

The game showed an adult look at one of four toys. Sometimes the adult could see all toys. Other times a wall blocked her view.

Kids had to figure out where the adult was looking and click on that toy.

Children with autism could follow eye direction when no wall was present.

When the wall blocked some toys, they picked the wrong toy more often and looked at it for less time.

Typical kids used the adult’s mental view to guess the right toy. Kids with autism did not.

Gunby et al. (2017) and Gunby et al. (2018) show the happy news: we can teach the skill. Simple prompting plus small prizes helped three preschoolers with autism learn to follow gaze shifts.

Lee et al. (2022) went further. They faded the prompts and treats. Most kids kept the skill for a month with only praise.

Bedford et al. (2012) looked at babies who later received an autism diagnosis. At 13 months these babies could follow gaze but spent less time looking at the target. Sara’s 2016 study shows the gap grows bigger once representational thinking is needed.

Do not drill only “look at my eyes.” That teaches a rote response.

Instead, teach the child to ask, “What can she see?” Use barriers, peek-through holes, and photos to make the adult’s view clear. Pair the lesson with social praise and small treats, then fade the treats as Gunby and T showed. The goal is mental-state gaze following, not just eye contact.