The Mackworth wide-angle reflection eye camera was used to record the position of the gaze on a display of 16 white symbols. One of these symbols changed to red after 30 seconds, remained red for a minute of testing, and then became white again. The subjects were 10 aphasic children (aged 5-9), who were compared with a group of 10 normal children, matched for sex and age. The normal children showed a marked orientation of the gaze toward the novel red symbol, followed by the usual rapid habituation. The aphasic children showed two quite different types of failure. The children with severe impairment of verbal comprehension showed prolonged orientation without habituation: they continued to stare at the red circle for the entire minute that it was on view. The behavior of these children resembled that of brain-damaged adult patients, who are often unable to register or store what they have seen. The children with mild impairment of verbal comprehension had a very different kind of failure: an inadequate orientation toward the novel item, as well as a considerable wandering of the gaze away from the display. These results raise the question of whether the presence of prolonged visual orientation to novelty helps to identify brain-damaged children. (Author/KM)