Genetics could explain that autistic children avoid eye contact
Educate a child autistic It is not easy. The characteristics of these minors make it much more difficult to understand them since they are highly introverted because of this disorder. Therefore, many behaviors of these children continue to surprise parents, although luckily scientific research tries to help these parents throwing some light in several aspects.
One of the characteristics that many children present autistic is to divert the gaze of the interlocutor. An aspect that would be related to the genetic code, which could explain the basis of this disorder in the smallest and that the presence of mutations in some of them makes it more likely that a child can develop autism throughout his life.
Genetic explanation
This new research on the genetic explanation of autism has been carried out by the teams of University of Washington, in St. Louis, and Emory University, in Atlanta. In these experiments, the eye movements of 250 children with a typical genetic development who were between 18 and 24 months of age were analyzed. At the same time, there were also about 88 children with autism who did not have twins.
All of them were exposed in front of videos of a woman who spoke directly with the child or scenes of other children playing with their classmates in a daycare center. During this broadcast the specialists analyzed the time and direction of the eye movements of the children while viewing these images. Specifically, the researchers wanted to know when the children saw their eyes, mouth or body of the characters in the videos, or nearby objects.
The results of the study showed that in the case of identical twins, 41 pairs of 250 children, often presented coordinated visual patterns. They moved their eyes in the same and in the same direction. Those children tended to see the parts of a person's face at the same time.
In the case of the visual patterns were less constant between the non-identical twins, 42 couples of the 250 children. The direction and time of visualization in these cases were even less coordinated among couples of unrelated children. Some results suggest that genetics influences children's behaviors, the researchers noted.
"Research shows that autism is likely to have a genetic basis. Siblings of children diagnosed with autism and people with certain genetic mutations have a higher risk of developing the disorder, compared to the general population, "explains Dr. Diana Bianchi, one of the authors of this research.
Living with an autistic child
As already said, being the father of an autistic child is a process that requires a lot of information to know how to face the situation in the best possible way. These are some tips for the progenitors that are in these circumstances:
- Stay informed about this aspect and ask everything that can help you understand the treatment options for your child.
- Not allowing the autism to consume every hour of the day, dedicating quality time to all the members of your family will help to create a calm atmosphere at home.
- Appreciate each victory of the autistic child. There is no underestimating the potential of an autistic child. For this reason, it is necessary to consult the specialists on how to motivate them and offer a space and encouragement so that they develop their capacities to the maximum.
Damián Montero
