Here’s an evidence-based summary of ways to improve scanning skills, visual attention, and related cognitive processes in autistic children, teens, and adults. I’ll have all this and more in the companion workbook that will be compiled later!
Evidence-Based Intervention Approaches
1. Targeted Attention & Gaze Training
“A Novel Approach to Training Attention and Gaze in ASD: A Feasibility and Efficacy Pilot Study.”
This pilot study showed that gaze-contingent video game training improved eye movement and attention-orienting performance in teens with ASD over an 8-week home-based intervention, demonstrating that targeted training of visual attention is feasible and can enhance foundational scanning skills.
Clinical Implications:
- Therapists can incorporate computer-or tablet-based attention and eye-movement games into therapy sessions.
- Families can use similar repetitive, engaging games at home (with therapist guidance) to practice orienting, disengaging, and shifting visual attention.
2. Parent-Mediated Eye Gaze Support
“Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of motivating eye gaze in young children on autism spectrum through parent-mediated intervention.”
This study found that training parents to support their young child’s eye gaze increased the child’s eye-looking behavior and engagement during free play.
Home Practice:
- Parents can be coached to prompt, reinforce, and reward eye contact and scanning toward salient social cues (e.g., eyes, faces).
- Techniques include play pauses, exaggerated eye cues, and direct gaze prompts embedded into everyday interactions.
3. Technology-Assisted Training of Gaze and Face Perception
“Randomized controlled pilot study of an app-based intervention for improving social skills, face perception, and eye gaze among youth with autism spectrum disorder.”
In this study, app-based interventions like “Yface” improved eye gaze and face perception skills compared with controls, showing that structured practice using interactive technology can improve visual scanning behaviors related to social stimuli.
Home/Therapy Use:
- Therapists can incorporate app-based face-scanning and gaze exercises into
- treatment plans.
- Families might use such apps for daily short practice sessions to reinforce scanning toward key visual/social information.
4. Virtual Reality and Immersive Training
“Gaze Fixation and Visual Searching Behaviors during an Immersive Virtual Reality Social
Skills Training Experience…”
This pilot study used immersive virtual reality (IVR) to examine gaze fixation and visual search patterns during simulated social interactions, showing differential scanning strategies in ASD. While not yet a clinical trial, it points toward using VR practice to shape scanning behaviors in controlled, real-world-like environments.
Implications:
- VR can be integrated into therapy settings to practice scanning and attention in realistic contexts (e.g., classroom, social scenarios).
- Families using VR or video modeling at home, guided by therapists, may reinforce scanning and engagement behaviors.
5. Broader Executive Function and Attention Training
“Executive Function Improvement for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Comparative Study between Virtual Training and Physical Exercise Methods.”
Executive control goes beyond visual scanning alone, but improving it can help support stronger attention, more effective scanning, and greater cognitive flexibility.
Therapeutic Strategies:
- Therapists can design structured exercises, virtual tasks, and movement activities that simultaneously tap attention control and working memory.
- Families can combine physical play (e.g., obstacle courses, tracking games) with visual challenge tasks at home.
Evidence for Broader EF Interventions
“Effects of Cognitive Training Programs on Executive Function in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review” is a systematic review that found that computerized and non-computerized cognitive training generally enhances executive functions, which are foundational to efficient scanning and attention shifting.
Clinical/Rehab Implications:
- Incorporate cognitive training modules that include visual scanning, pattern detection, response inhibition, and working memory tasks.
- Therapists might combine attention exercises with real-world tasks (finding items in a cluttered field, tracking moving objects, visual search puzzles).
Practical Activities Families Can Do at Home
Activities that support scanning and visual attention:
- Eye-tracking video games or apps designed for attention training (as above).
- “Find It” visual search games (hidden pictures, Where’s Waldo, pattern search tasks).
- Joint play with scanning cues (e.g., ask the child to find objects in room while shifting gaze).
- Structured visual puzzles (matching, sequence cards, scanning arrays).
- Parent-guided social gaze prompts– cueing and reinforcing eye contact in play routines.
What Therapists Can Do Clinically
Therapists should consider:
- Gaze-contingent training using eye-tracking and video games to improve attention orientation.
- Parent-mediated scanning encouragement programs to reinforce scanning behaviors in natural interactions.
- Integration of technology (apps, VR) and cognitive training sessions to shape scanning and attention.
- Targeting executive function skills, such as working memory and inhibition (which support scanning efficiency), through computerized tasks or structured play.
Summary
Scientific research suggests that targeted training—especially when repetitive, engaging, and structured—can enhance visual scanning, gaze orientation, and attention in individuals with autism. Strategies range from technology-assisted interventions, parent-mediated practices, and cognitive training to therapist-led executive function activities. While research is still emerging, pilot studies show feasible improvements using home-based and clinic-supported interventions.
Readers, I’ll be including week-by-week plans for you in the companion workbook that will be published when I finish blogging the book!
Want to See the Research?
- “A novel approach to training attention and gaze in ASD: A feasibility and efficacy pilot study.”
Developmental Neurobiology.
Chukoskie L, Westerfield M, Townsend J. 2018;78(5):546–554. DOI: 10.1002/dneu.22563. - “Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of motivating eye gaze in young children on autism spectrum through parent-mediated intervention.”
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Muuvila M, Helminen TM, Lehtonen E, Eriksson K, Charman T, Kylliäinen A. 2022;98:102028. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2022.102028. - “Randomized controlled pilot study of an app-based intervention for improving social skills, face perception, and eye gaze among youth with autism spectrum disorder.”
Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Chung K. and Chung E. 2023;14:1126290. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1126290. - “Gaze Fixation and Visual Searching Behaviors during an Immersive Virtual Reality Social Skills Training Experience for Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study.”
Brain Sciences.
Thomas David Elkin, Yunxi Zhang, and Jennifer C. Reneker. 2022;12(11):1568. doi:10.3390/brainsci12111568. - “Executive Function Improvement for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Comparative Study between Virtual Training and Physical Exercise Methods.”
Children (Basel). 2022;9(4):507. doi:10.3390/children9040507. - “Effects of Cognitive Training Programs on Executive Function in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review.”
Brain Sciences. 2021;11(10):1280. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11101280.