Karri Gillespie-Smith

For my undergraduate dissertation I examined gaze aversion as a cognitive load management for children on the autistic spectrum.  This research threw up fascinating results showing that high functioning children with autism may use gaze aversion similar to typically developed children.  My supervisers Prof. Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon and Dr Deborah Riby are at present examining these findings to a greater extent. 

Now in my own post-graduate research I am examining if atypicalities in the way children with autism process images (specifically images which contain faces and people) affect the way these children learn within the classroom.  I will be examining the use of PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), Boardmaker and Widgit to assess whether faces or people present in the image hinders rather than facilitates the successful use of this method of communication. 

Eyetracking methodology was also applied to real images of familiar and unfamiliar teachers to see if children with autism attended to the familiar images in different ways (as previous eyetracking research has not investigated familiarity).  These real images of teachers were used within picture timetables to represent subjects (ie. art and music) or to show the children who would be working with them.  I was interested to see if the children with ASD attended to these familiar images typically which would have implications on previous eye-tracking research and on how they understand these images. 

I also wish to examine the complexity of a realistic scene and the way pupils with autism attend to the faces within the scene.  The atypicalities in the way children with autism look at pictures, may be particularly relevant to the use of realistic images used within the classroom, For example during social stories. For individuals with Autism social stories can provide a framework for appropriate behaviour, and an idea of how others might respond in certain situations, (National Autistic Society 2010).  Social stories sometimes use real images to facilitate understanding.  Therefore by manipulating how many persons and objects are presented on the scene we can ascertain if increased complexity reduces or increases atypical eye gaze behaviour. 

Using an eyetracker the children's gaze and fixation patterns will be recorded and analysed.  This will give insight to which parts of the image children on the autistic spectrum are attending to.  Any findings from this research will have great implications for materials and methods employed in the learning environments of pupils with autism.