FP1761 : Abnormal visual behavior (AVB) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Dr. Zia Chaudhuri (C07237)

A prospective analysis of 49 children with autism and 1 with Rett syndrome with ASD as per DSM V criteria revealed that assessable visual acuity (VA) as observed in 8 subjects and presence of stereopsis as seen in 7, correlated well with absence of poor eye contact. Other AVB like gaze avoidance, hand flicking, light gazing, side looking, visual inattention, poor awareness of surrounds and fascination with bright, spinning objects was equivocal in both groups, and this, thus comprised a cohort with significant visual similarities to cerebral visual impairment (CVI), made more complex by co-existence of ASD with CVI. Neuro-imaging revealed periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) to be common. All 7 subjects with stereopsis (198±146.6 arcsecs, Titmus Fly) had assessable VA (mean 0.4logMAR). Visually evoked response (VER), visual mismatch negativity (VMMN) graph and presence of strabismus and refractive errors (RE) showed no correlation to AVB in ASD.