Help With Autism

People use eye contact in a variety of ways every minute of every day but how often do you find yourself staring into space with concentrating on an issue or problem? Psychologists now know that people who are carrying out a complex task tend to look away from anyone else who is nearby. They refer to it as ‘gaze aversion’.

Now they are finding out how to use changes in a child’s gaze aversion to understand their educational progress. A group led by Dr. Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon at the University of Stirling has looked at gaze aversion in both children and adults.

They found that children aged 4-6 are more likely to avert their gaze when they are carrying out a task that they find difficult, or new to them. They also avert their gaze less if they are being tested by someone they know.

When observing 5-8 year-olds, the researchers found that gaze aversion is related to the complexity of the task being undertaken, rather than to other stimuli. The results were consistent for a variety of settings and for a range of tasks, such as balancing a beam with asymmetrical loads.

Researchers say that, from the point of view of the teacher, gaze aversion is a positive sign. A child who is doing it is likely to be developing their understanding and is what Dr Doherty-Sneddon terms an “improver”. By contrast, children who are not improving their performance, or who are regressing, use gaze aversion less often.

Gaze aversion is an important key in autism awareness and detection in children.

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