Eye tracking and reading comprehension

PURPOSE: To explore the time course of inference making during text reading in individuals with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) from 10-16 years of age. The information collected from the study will help to increase knowledge about the origin of reading comprehension difficulties which are estimated to be present at a 30%-50% in children with ASC vs a 5-10% in children with typical development.

WHO DO WE NEED: Individuals 9-16 years of age with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder AND individuals 10-16 years of age with no clinical diagnosis.

PROCEDURE:  Children and adolescents will be asked to read short texts of 3 sentences and answer comprehension questions afterwards while their eye movements are monitored with an eye tracking system. The eye tracker is a small camera which sits below the computer monitor and videos children’s patterns of eye-movements while they read. During an eye tracking session, children would be asked to sit at a desk and lean against a chin rest. A picture of a child seated at an eye tracker is shown here. In addition, Children and adolescents will be asked to complete some short reading and language tasks.

This application has been reviewed by the University Research Ethics Committee and has been given a favorable ethical opinion for conduct.

If you want to join and help us, please contact the Principal Researchers:  Dr. Holly Joseph and Dr. Inmaculada Fajardo:i.fajardo@reading.ac.uk