Vision care among school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder in North America: Findings from the Autism Treatment Network Registry Call-Back Study.
Only half of school-aged autistic kids saw an eye doctor in the past two years—screen vision at intake and track eyeglass wear.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team called families who were already in the Autism Treatment Network registry. They asked if the child had seen an eye doctor in the past two years. They also asked about family income, parent education, and the child’s daily living skills.
The sample was drawn from the United States and Canada. No new tests were done; it was a phone survey.
What they found
Only 57% of school-aged autistic children had received vision testing from a practitioner. The rest had not seen an eye doctor in at least two years.
Families with lower income, lower parent education, or children with more daily-living challenges were even less likely to get vision care.
How this fits with other research
Ikeda et al. (2013) examined clinic charts and found that 40% of autistic kids who did see an eye doctor had an undetected problem such as strabismus or amblyopia. Together, the two papers create a double gap: many kids never get to the eye doctor, and when they do, problems are still common.
Rattan et al. (2025) surveyed families in Iraq and saw a similar 50% prevalence of diagnosed vision problems, but 28% of parents were unaware. The North America study and the Iraq study are conceptual replications—same age group, same survey style, same rough prevalence—showing the gap is global.
Chou et al. (2007) and van Timmeren et al. (2016) already showed that speech and OT dominate school services while other needs are skipped. The 2021 vision paper extends that theme: vision care is another skipped service, driven by the same income and education barriers.
Why it matters
If half of your clients have not had an eye test, you cannot tell whether poor eye contact is autism or simply poor vision. Add a quick vision-history question to your intake form. If the parent says “no eye doctor since kindergarten,” write a referral that day and track whether glasses are worn at school. Fixing vision can boost attending, reading, and even social responding—no extra therapy hours required.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children with autism are at high risk for vision problems, which may compound core social and behavioral symptoms if untreated. Despite recommendations for school-aged children with autism to receive routine vision testing by an eye care practitioner (ophthalmologist or optometrist), little is known about their vision care. This study, therefore, examined vision care among 351 children with autism ages 6-17 years in the United States or Canada who were enrolled in the Autism Treatment Network Registry. Parents were surveyed using the following vision care measures: (1) child's vision was tested with pictures, shapes, or letters in the past 2 years; (2) child's vision was tested by an eye care practitioner in the past 2 years; (3) child was prescribed corrective eyeglasses; and (4) child wore eyeglasses as recommended. Sociodemographic characteristics such as parent education level, child functioning characteristics such as child communication abilities, and family functioning characteristics such as caregiver strain were also assessed in relationship to vision care. Although 78% of children with autism had their vision tested, only 57% had an eye care practitioner test their vision in the past 2 years. Among the 30% of children with autism prescribed corrective eyeglasses, 78% wore their eyeglasses as recommended. Differences in vision care were additionally found among children with autism by parent education, household income, communication abilities, intellectual functioning, and caregiver strain. Overall, study results suggest many school-aged children with autism do not receive recommended vision care and highlight potentially modifiable disparities in vision care.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2021 · doi:10.1177/1362361320942091