Initial Ophthalmic Findings in Turkish Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Doctors in Turkey looked back at eye charts of kids already diagnosed with autism. They counted how many of these children also had eye problems like lazy eye or far-sightedness.

The study was small and only describes what was seen. No new treatment was tested.

Roughly one in every four kids with autism had a clear eye disorder. The doctors say this means vision checks should be routine for new autism diagnoses.

Gutierrez et al. (1998) first showed that autistic children make extra fast eye jumps in the lab. Utku et al. (2015) now show these same kids also carry real eye diseases in the clinic. The two papers sit side-by-side: one finds brain-level eye movement quirks, the other finds eyeball-level disease.

Caldani et al. (2020) and Ziv et al. (2024) later confirmed the odd eye jumps with newer cameras. None of these lab studies looked for actual eye disease, so they do not clash with Utku’s clinic data—they simply ask a different question.

Doğan et al. (2026) also worked in Turkey and found high feeding issues in autistic kids. Together with Utku’s eye data, the picture is clear: Turkish children with autism often carry extra medical needs beyond the core autism symptoms.

If you evaluate a newly diagnosed child, add a pediatric ophthalmology referral to your intake list. A quick vision exam can catch correctable problems that may add to attention or behavior issues. No extra equipment is needed—just a referral slip and a note in the medical file.