An eye-tracking study on autistic children’s visual attention: The use of spatial-progression, time-sequence, colours and shape-patterns in picture book designs

Different from the visual attention of typically developing (TD) children, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have the tendency to pay attention to parts rather than the whole of objects. Hence, the pictures in a typical story-based picture book, which usually contains various objects and elements, may appear distracting and discomforting for children with ASD. By recruiting 4–6-year-old ASD and TD children (N = 40) to participate in an eye-tracking experiment, this study examined participants’ visual attention on a typical children’s picture book and four other researcher-designed picture books that are simplified in composition and types of elements. Results from between-group comparisons indicated children with ASD had significantly fewer fixation counts and shorter total fixation durations when reading the story-based picture book than TD children. Significant within-group differences were also identified comparing the ASD participants’ reading of the story-based and the researcher-made picture books. However, the viewing behaviours of the ASD and TD groups when reading the researcher-designed books were much more similar. Discussion of the visual characteristics and practical implications for educators to effectively design picture books were offered.