Storytelling With or Without Social Contextual Information in Children With Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development

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

This study was to examine the effects of storytelling with or without contextual information on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typical development (TD).

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 and 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 human faces from 20 photos and a video were recorded using the Tobii eye tracker.

Inclusion Criteria for children with ASD:

• 1) children aged between 6 and 12 years old;
• 2) had a previous diagnosis of ASD from medical professionals;
• 3) studied in mainstream primary school;
• 4) had a composite IQ score of 80 or above

Inclusion Criteria for children with TD:

• 1) children aged between 6 and 12 years old;
• 2) had no developmental disorder or intellectual disability;
• 3) attended primary school.

Exclusion Criteria:

• NA