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Updated: May 28, 2026

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism
Published on: March 27, 2012
Eye-Tracking-Based Interventions for School-Age Specific Learning Disorders: A Narrative Review of Functional
Pierluigi Diotaiuti1, Francesco Di Siena1, Salvatore Vitiello1
1Department of Human Sciences, Society and Health, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy.
Abstract:
Eye tracking (ET) provides process-level indices of how students sample task-relevant information during core academic activities. In school-age learners (6-18 years) with specific learning disorders (SLDs; dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia), ET can complement behavioural assessment by quantifying oculomotor patterns linked to decoding, model-production coordination, and stepwise strategy execution. This narrative review synthesises ET findings in SLD across reading, handwriting/copying, and arithmetic and translates them into an applied framework for school-oriented use. We summarise key metrics and Areas of Interest (AOI)-based analyses, highlight technical and data-quality requirements for valid acquisition in educational settings, and outline compact functional assessment protocols integrated with standard academic and neuropsychological measures. Building on these foundations, we propose six hypothesis-driven gaze-contingent paradigms (H1-H6) as preliminary models for future experimental testing rather than as established interventions, and we map each to its current level of empirical support, specifying primary gaze outcomes and curriculum-relevant behavioural endpoints. We emphasise that eye-movement findings in specific learning disorders are heterogeneous and may vary as a function of age, task demands, and comorbidity. Accordingly, credible training effects require retention and transfer probes under standard, non-contingent display conditions, appropriate controls, and explicit developmental interpretation. Eye tracking is positioned as complementary functional evidence and as a platform for experimentally testable, mechanism-based interventions in school-age specific learning disorders.
