BLINDNESS AND AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is common in children with blindness. Differentiating
between autistic-like features related to blindness and “true” autistic features
can be very difficult, and demands clinical experience of children with blindness
and their typical development, as well as properly adapted assessment tools. The purpose
of this study was to present an overview of the characteristics of blindness and
ASD. A literature review was performed according to PRISMA criteria. Publications
from ERIC, EBSCO-Host, Science-Direct, PROQUEST, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar
have been analysed.
Recent research has indicated that the prevalence of ASD may be higher in individuals
with visual impairments (48%) than in the general population (1.5%), and
the risk of ASD increases with the severity of visual impairment. Also, research has
shown that certain aetiologies of blindness seem to have especially high comorbidity
with ASD, mainly optic nerve hypoplasia, retinopathy of prematurity, and anophthalmia.