In terms of theory, the present diploma thesis gives an outline of the basic aspects of communication, focusing primarily on communication in people with intellectual disability. It describes the characteristics of girls with Rett syndrome and the problems they face in communication. In addition, it describes helping and supportive communication, highlighting their importance for the people with intellectual disability who cannot communicate verbally.
The main purpose of the thesis is to use eye tracking technology with a girl suffering from Rett syndrome in order to determine whether she could communicate with the environment by means of helping and supportive communication based on eye-gaze direction.
To ascertain this, two tasks have been devised in which the girl observed her preferred colour and food. The tests revealed that the girl invested more time and attention into observing her preferred food, whereas no similar results were obtained by the colour-related test.
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