An Ecological Visual Exploration Tool to Support the Analysis of Visual Processing Pathways in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Recent improvements in the field of assistive technologies have led to innovative solutions aiming at increasing the capabilities of people with disability, helping them in daily activities with applications that span from cognitive impairments to developmental disabilities. In particular, in the case of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the need to obtain active feedback in order to extract subsequently meaningful data becomes of fundamental importance. In this work, a study about the possibility of understanding the visual exploration in children with ASD is presented. In order to obtain an automatic evaluation, an algorithm for free (i.e., without constraints, nor using additional hardware, infrared (IR) light sources or other intrusive methods) gaze estimation is employed. Furthermore, no initial calibration is required. It allows the user to freely rotate the head in the field of view of the sensor, and it is insensitive to the presence of eyeglasses, hats or particular hairstyles. These relaxations of the constraints make this technique particularly suitable to be used in the critical context of autism, where the child is certainly not inclined to employ invasive devices, nor to collaborate during calibration procedures.The evaluation of children’s gaze trajectories through the proposed solution is presented for the purpose of an Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) program built on the child’s spontaneous interests and game choice delivered in a natural setting.