Visual Rehabilitation in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Visual Disorders

National Taiwan University Hospital9 enrolled

Overview

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have visual problems that add difficulty to social interaction and communication. This study implemented a visual rehabilitation program to improve visual function and functional use of visual information in children with ASD and co-occurring visual difficulties. After the program, children showed improved visual abilities, eye contact, and attention during shared activities. The study also confirmed that the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS) is a practical and reliable tool for tracking these improvements. Overall, the results suggest that helping children with ASD improve their vision may also support their social and communication development.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder Visual Rehabilitation Vision Social Communication

Interventions

Visual RehabilitationBEHAVIORAL

Participants received an individualized visual rehabilitation program that included PowerPoint-based visual training games and visual perceptual activities. The program was delivered in weekly one-on-one sessions of 1 hr over a 10-week period.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 1 YearMax age: 8 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Language developmental age between 12 and 36 months * Diagnosis or suspected diagnosis of ASD based on DSM criteria * Best-corrected binocular visual acuity between 0.1 and 0.5, or other marked intra-individual variability across visual perceptual tasks * Ability to follow at least two-step commands in daily activities Exclusion Criteria: • Moderate to severe intellectual disability

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Visual Function Battery for Children with Special Needs, VFB-CSN

The VFB-CSN is a standardized observable measure of visual function for children with special needs. The VFB-CSN can assess eight visual functions: Visual Reflex, Ocular Muscle Balance/ Imbalance, Visual Acuity, Oculomotor, Visual Field, Contrast Sensitivity, Color/ Form Vision, and Visual Attention. The highest possible total score is 60. The VFB-CSN has shown excellent inter-rater reliability and good ecological validity.

Time frame: Measured at baseline (within 2 weeks prior to the intervention) and post-intervention (within 2 weeks after completion of the program).

Early Social Communication Scales, ESCS

The ESCS is a standardized video coding measure of social communication skills for children with a language developmental age between 8 and 30 months. The ESCS can assess three domains: Joint Attention, Behavioral Request, and Social Interaction. The ESCS has no total score or scoring ceiling; most of the behaviors are documented as counts. The ESCS demonstrates excellent to moderate inter-rater reliability and good construct validity.