ObjectiveTo explore the common attention of children with language retardation(LR) caused by autism spectrum disorder(ASD) and mental retardation.

MethodsForty children with ASD and 40 children with LR were divided into the ASD group and LR grouop, and 40 children with healthy physical examination at the same period were set as the control group.The early social communication scale was used to evaluate the common attention of three groups.

ResultsThe results of the comparison of common attention showed that the scores of responding joint attention(RJA), initiating joint attention(IJA), higher level initiating joint attention(HIJA), lower level initiating joint attention(LIJA), alternate(Alt) and eye contact(EC) in LR group were lower than those in control group(P < 0.01), and the scores of RJA, higher level responding joint attention(HRJA), lower level responding joint attention(LRJA), IJA, HIJA, LIJA, Alt and EC in ASD group were lower than those in control group(P < 0.01).The scores of RJA, HRJA, LRJA, IJA, LIJA and EC in LR group were higher than those in ASD group(P < 0.01), but the differences of the scores of HIJA, Show, Point and Alt between LR group and ASD group were not statistically significant(P>0.05).

ConclusionsBoth ASD and LR children have obvious common attention deficit, but the eye contact behavioral defects in LR children are mainly manifested, which can be used for the preliminary diagnosis of ASD in clinic.