Visual scanning of social stimuli in preterm and autism spectrum disorder children

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the pattern of eye-gaze of preterm (PT), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical (Ty) children.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study with eight preterm (born with ≤2000 g weight), nine ASD and five Ty male children, between six and nine years old, was performed. The eye gaze was evaluated presenting a board with a couple in social interaction, and a video with four children playing with blocks, projected in a screen computer, successively, evaluating the time that the children looked at each stimulus.

RESULTS

Although all the groups focus on the central social figure with no significant differences, ASD presented significant differences in time fixation of the objects (p=0.021), while premature children fixated more time in the central social interaction than in the whole scene than typical children.

CONCLUSIONS

Although this study found noteworthy differences in the eye-gaze patterns among the three groups, additional research with a more extensive participant pool is necessary to validate these preliminary results.

Autism: an 'epidemic' of contemporary times?

The text discusses the growing incidence of autism in the world, presents an understanding of autism from the point of view of analytical psychology, and reflects on the treatment of autistic patients. Today, it is understood that autism is part of a continuum of characteristics on a spectrum with biological and congenital causes. It is a non-specific picture resulting from multiple causations of non-linear factors. Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by a triad of symptoms: persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviours, interests, or activities. Autism spectrum disorder must be considered as a clinical entity, with current clearly defined characteristics. It is an extremely complex condition, which requires multidisciplinary approaches aiming at the possibility of prognosis and effective therapeutic approaches. This paper explores how a disturbance may occur from the intra-uterine phase, in which matriarchal experiences do not constellate. The structuring function of the patriarchal organization can then become dominant, and people with autism need understanding and help to organize their world and learn to live in it. As they don't have the capacity to structure consciousness through the matriarchal archetype, they rely entirely on the structuring and organizing capacity of the Father archetype.