| Author: | Tang, Yu Fung |
| Title: | The effects of storytelling with or without social contextual information regarding eye gaze and visual attention in children with autistic spectrum disorder and typical development : a randomized, controlled eye-tracking study |
| Advisors: | Fong, Kenneth (RS) |
| Degree: | DHSc |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Subject: | Children with autism spectrum disorders Storytelling Eye contact Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Faculty of Health and Social Sciences |
| Pages: | x, 65 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Introduction Children with ASD often show atypical eye gazes and visual attention to human faces. Storytelling is a common strategy used to help them learn social skills, appropriate eye gaze, and visual attention. Evidence shows that social stories may improve eye contact in individuals with ASD. More evidence is thus needed to support that storytelling with and without contextual information targeting eye gaze and visual attention in this population. Objective This objective of the study was to investigate the effects of storytelling with or without contextual information regarding eye gaze and visual attention in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typical development (TD) using eye-tracker. Methods This was a 2 x 2 x 2 randomized controlled trial with 52 children (26 with ASD and 26 with TD) recruited in the community. They were randomized into four groups: 1) ASD Group 1 – storytelling with contextual information; 2) ASD Group 2 – storytelling without contextual information; 3) TD Group 1 – storytelling with contextual information; 4) TD Group 2 – storytelling without contextual information. All stories were photo-based and static in nature. The only difference between Group 1 and Group 2 was that the stories included and did not include social contextual information, respectively. Training was delivered in small groups, with eight sessions across four weeks, two sessions per week, and 30 minutes per session. Participants' total fixation duration (TFD), total visit duration (TVD), and total fixation count (TFC) on specific areas of interests (AOI) were recorded by taking 20 photos and a video using the Tobii eye tracker. AOI were set on human faces, including eyes, mouths, and facial expressions, in the photos and video. Results Our findings revealed that the TFD (p = 0.008), TVD (p = 0.037), and TFC (p = 0.028) in regard to the photos were significantly increased immediately after the group training with contextual information – more so than for the group training without. TFD in regard to the video (p = 0.010) was increased more in the ASD groups than in the TD groups. The TFC in regard to the video was significantly increased in ASD Group 1 – more so than for the other three groups – when co-variates were not considered (p = 0.046). However, there were no significant changes in visual attention found by analyzing the results of the Trail Making Test. Storytelling with social contextual information enhanced participants' eye gazes on faces and eyes in static information (photos) for both children with ASD and TD, but the same advantage could not be seen for children with ASD in regard to dynamic information (videos). Children with TD demonstrated more gazing behaviors on the AOI than children with ASD when both of them were assessed with videos displayed on the screen, regardless of the types of interventions – storytelling with or without social contextual information. Conclusion Our findings revealed that storytelling with social contextual information enhanced participants' eye gazes on eyes / faces in static information (photos) for both children with ASD and TD, but the same advantage could not be seen for children with ASD in regard to dynamic information (videos). |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6332.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 2.01 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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