The development of eye contact difficulties in autism spectrum disorder: early detection and intervention

The early detection of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is required to facilitate early intervention. The aim of our study is to investigate whether abnormal physiological responses to eye contact can aid the early detection of ASD. The parents of 16-month-old toddlers will be asked to fill ASD screening questionnaire and the toddlers with an elevated likelihood of ASD will be asked to take part in the follow-up study. The parents of the toddlers with clear difficulties in gaze behaviour will be offered brief parental gaze guidance. It will be studied whether it is possible to improve the gaze behaviour of the toddler and at the same time affect positively to social engagement and self-regulation. We will also study the outcome of parental sleep guidance as sleep problems are very common in toddlers with developmental challenges and sleep is a crucial aspect for favourable development.