Abstract: Objective To investigate the charactoristics of comprehension of words or phrases of nouns in chidren with autism. Methods From November, 2014 to April, 2015, 43 children with autism and 10 with Down's syndrome aged 7-14 years accepting special education, and other 42 normal children aged 7-8 years were asked to identify the pictures according to the words, wearing Tobii II Glasses to record eyes movement. Results The incidence of right answer was more in the normal children than in the ones with autism or Down's syndrome (χ2>5.647, P<0.05), and more focused on the right pictures (χ2>6.248, P<0.05). For the phrases, the children with autism tended to focus on the words as the order of speech, but not the center word (χ2>7.15, P<0.05). For the words, the first views after questions were different from the children with autism to the normal children (χ2>5.04, P<0.05). Conclusion Children with autism tend to focus on the words as the order of speech, but not the center word, which may influence the phrases understanding, and be influenced by the intuitive vision.

Key words: autism, children, eyes movement, comprehension, words