Influence of a Short‐Term Attention Intervention on the Attentional Skills of Toddlers With Suspected or Confirmed Autism Spectrum Disorder

Sacrey and team ran a short computer game for toddlers with autism. Kids tapped pictures that popped up on a tablet. The game got faster as they improved.

The study used a coin-flip style random trial. Some toddlers played the attention game. Others played a simple matching game. No one knew which child was in which group.

After only a few weeks, the attention-game group stayed focused longer. Parents also saw the change at home. Kids looked at books longer and sat through more of a meal.

The gains moved from the tablet to real life. This is called generalization. It is rare with computer drills.

Spaniol et al. (2021) and Spaniol et al. (2018) showed the same program helps school-age kids with autism. They gained math and reading scores. Sacrey et al. (2025) pushes the same idea down to toddlers. The pattern shows the drill works across ages.

Zheng et al. (2020) tested a robot that teaches joint attention to toddlers. That study found no group benefit. The robot and the tablet both aim at attention, yet only the tablet worked. The difference is the robot used social cues while the tablet used pure speed. Speed drills may fit this age better.

Kirk et al. (2017) gave a home-based attention game to kids with delays. They saw only a tiny math gain months later. Sacrey’s toddlers showed wider daily gains right away. The tighter autism focus and parent coaching may explain the stronger transfer.

You now have a low-cost tool for two-year-olds who struggle to sit still. Five minutes a day on a tablet can jump-start their attention span. Pair the game with parent tips so the skill shows up at snack time, story time, and circle time. Start with one toddler next week and track how long he stays at a table activity before and after the drill.