Development and validation of an Arabic language eye-tracking paradigm for the early screening and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders in Qatar

Abstract

Abnormal eye gaze is a hallmark characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The primary aim of the present research was to develop an Arabic version of an objective measure of ASD, the “autism index” (AI), based on eye gaze tracking to social and nonsocial stimuli validated initially in the United States. The initial phase of this study included the translation of English language eye-tracking stimuli into stimuli appropriate for an Arabic-speaking culture. During the second phase, we tested it on a total of 144 children with ASD, and 96 controls. The AI had excellent internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Moreover, the AI showed good differentiation of ASD from control cases (AUC = 0.730, SE = 0.035). The AI was significantly positively correlated with SCQ total raw scores (r = 0.46, p < 0.001). ADOS-2 scores were only available in the ASD group and did not show a significant relationship with AI scores (r = 0.10, p = 0.348), likely due to the restricted range. The AI, when implemented using Arabic-translated stimuli in a Qatari sample, showed good diagnostic differentiation and a strong correlation with parent-reported ASD symptoms. Thus, the AI appears to have cross-cultural validity and may be useful as a diagnostic aide to inform clinical judgment and track ASD symptom levels as part of the evaluation process.