Do minimally verbal and verbally fluent individuals with autism spectrum disorder differ in their viewing patterns of dynamic social scenes?

The study did not include a non-autism control group, so it cannot show how these viewing patterns compare with typical development. Only one video clip was used, and there was no matched non-social viewing condition, so the results may reflect this particular scene and objects. The free-viewing task was passive and did not require explicit responses, so it cannot prove joint attention ability or distinguish lack of understanding from lack of interest. Gaze data inclusion was less stringent than in studies with cognitively able participants, and a 5-point calibration was used instead of a 9-point calibration. Nine minimally verbal and five verbally fluent participants were excluded from gaze analyses, so the analysed sample was smaller than the recruited sample. Although nonverbal IQ was covaried, differences may still reflect non-social processes such as eye movement control, attention, or motivation. The study is observational, so associations with language and symptom scores do not show that changing viewing patterns will change communication.

No funding or conflict-of-interest declaration is included in the article text; the publication metadata lists NIH extramural research support.

Do not conclude that minimally verbal autistic people lack social interest or that training gaze patterns will improve communication. Both groups looked more at the person than at objects, and the study was observational, passive, and not an intervention test.