Eye-Tracking Training May Improve Social Skills in Children with Multiple Disabilities

Using eye-tracking technology—a method that records and analyzes eye movements—researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have shown that young people with multiple disabilities can strengthen social and emotional skills. Although this group is often considered “untestable,” nine participants completed a year-long, personalized training program and showed encouraging progress in socialization. The study was published in Acta Psychologica.

Multiple disabilities combine severe intellectual and motor impairments, often leading to profound dependence. Many affected individuals cannot communicate through speech or gestures, relying instead on subtle cues such as muscle tone, eye movements, or facial expressions—signals that can be difficult to interpret. This has made assessment and targeted support especially challenging.

In 2022, the same UNIGE team used an eye-tracking device to measure responses to specific images and found that individuals with multiple disabilities can display clear visual preferences. Those results suggested new ways to improve communication. Building on that work, the researchers—working with the University of Lille—have now tested whether tailored eye-tracking training could also develop socio-emotional abilities.

According to Thalia Cavadini, a doctoral research assistant at UNIGE’s Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and the study’s first author, the findings offer early evidence that customized training can strengthen certain socio-emotional skills in children and adolescents with multiple disabilities. The results indicate learning abilities that may previously have been overlooked.

Eye-Controlled Educational Games

The training program relied on educational video games controlled entirely by gaze, created using three software tools. The first, Gazeplay, is an open-source platform offering a broad collection of eye-controlled games, several of which were adapted for the project. The second, Attention Eye, was developed at UNIGE to target key socio-emotional skills, including social orientation, emotion recognition, joint attention, and moral judgment. The third, a game called Climb the Hill, was designed to practice social and moral skills not covered by the other programs.

Nine children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 took part in the study and were followed for one year. Each participant completed between 40 and 100 individual sessions. By the end of the program, all participants improved their visual exploration. In addition, each participant made progress in at least one of six measured socio-emotional skills: preferential attention to biological movement, social orientation, face exploration, discrimination of emotional expressions, joint attention, and socio-moral judgment.

New Possibilities for Communication and Support

The researchers say the results strengthen the case that eye-tracking tools, when used in a personalized way, can help develop socio-emotional abilities in young people with multiple disabilities. The study also points to new methods for assessment and support, underlining how assistive technologies can expand communication and social participation for individuals whose abilities are often underestimated.