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Autism and Visual Impairment: a Review of the Literature

Butchart, Maggie; Long, Joseph J; Brown, Michael; McMillan, Anne; Bain, Janice; Karatzias, Thanos

Authors

Maggie Butchart

Joseph J Long

Michael Brown

Anne McMillan

Janice Bain



Abstract

Purpose
This review presents the evidence on the prevalence of visual impairments in children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and the similar behavioural traits associated with both visual impairment and autism.

Method
A systematic literature review was conducted using online databases.

Results
Seven studies explored the incidence of visual impairments in people with ASD and found a higher incidence of strabismus (squint) (8.3%) than in a comparable child population (1.5 to 5.3%). Eleven studies identified behavioural traits common to both autistic and visually impaired populations. The majority were small-scale screening studies using varied methodologies, constituting an emerging field of research.

Conclusion
Further large-scale, multicentre studies are required to accurately identify prevalence rates of ophthalmic conditions in people with ASD. There is a small but evolving evidence base that establishes behavioural and linguistic traits common to both visual impairment and autism.

Citation

Butchart, M., Long, J. J., Brown, M., McMillan, A., Bain, J., & Karatzias, T. (2017). Autism and Visual Impairment: a Review of the Literature. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 4(2), 118-131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-016-0101-1

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 11, 2016
Online Publication Date Jan 5, 2017
Publication Date Jan 5, 2017
Deposit Date Jan 9, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Print ISSN 2195-7177
Electronic ISSN 2195-7185
Publisher BMC
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 4
Issue 2
Pages 118-131
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-016-0101-1
Keywords Visual impairment, Sight loss, Autism, ASD,
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/460308

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Autism and Visual Impairment: a Review of the Literature (519 Kb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2017
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.





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