PURPOSE: To assess gaze and eye contact development of a baby girl with Down syndrome and to compare the frequency of gaze directed to different targets to that of babies with normal development. METHODS: A female baby with Down syndrome, without any detected eye conditions and 17 babies with normal development were video recorded once a month, between the first and the fifth months of life, at home, interacting with their mothers. The frequency of gaze directed toward 11 different targets, including "mother's eye" was registered. RESULTS: Babies with normal development presented statistically significant evolution, throughout the observed period, in the amount of "eye closed" and of gaze direction to "objects", "researcher", "surroundings", "own body", "mother's face" and "mother's eye". The sample presented statistical stability in the areas of "looking to other person", "looking to mother's body" and "opening and closing eyes". The development of gaze and eye contact of the baby with Down syndrome was statistically very similar to that of typically developing babies, compared by means (Chi-square test) and individual varisability (analysis of significant clusters). CONCLUSIONS: Early interaction between mother and baby seams to interfere more with non-verbal communication than some genetically determined limitations. It may have resulted in the likeliness observed on the visual behavior of the baby with Down syndrome and the other, normally developing babies.
Down syndrome; Child development; Nonverbal communication
