Eye-tracking in school-age specific learning disorders: a practice-oriented narrative review of assessment and gaze-contingent interventions

Eye-tracking (ET) provides fine-grained, real-time indicators of how school-age students allocate visual attention during learning, yet its translation into school-based assessment and intervention for Specific Learning Disorder (SLD; DSM-5: dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia) remains limited and unsystematic. This practice-oriented narrative review synthesizes peer-reviewed empirical studies and pilot technology/intervention papers published between 1999 and 2025, a period that captures the diffusion of video-based ET in educational research and the emergence of gaze-adaptive learning tools. We focused on studies involving school-age students (approximately 5–18 years) with diagnosed SLD or closely related learning profiles, using academic tasks in reading, writing/handwriting, spelling/orthography, numeracy, and visual attention/search. Across domains, the literature converges on robust oculomotor signatures of inefficient visual sampling and increased processing demands, reflected in slower and less stable gaze patterns, disrupted forward progression, and higher cognitive load. ET also helps localize “hidden” breakdown points in decoding, visuomotor coordination, phoneme-grapheme mapping, and problem-solving strategies that may not be detectable through accuracy or response time alone. Evidence on gaze-contingent and ET-informed interventions is emerging. Although most studies remain small and short-term, results suggest potential for adaptive scaffolding that guides attention and supports more efficient learning behaviors. We provide a unified, educationally grounded framework for interpreting ET findings in SLD and practical guidance for implementation in schools, with emphasis on feasibility, data quality, and ethical considerations when working with minors.