One of my 3-year-old sons is developmentally delayed (about seven months) with SID, and might be on the autistic spectrum somewhere (PDD, Asperger's or hyperlexia in my unprofessional opinion). His eye contact is sometimes very good and other times he won't keep contact for more than a second or two. The farther away from him that you are the better his eye contact. As you move in closer he begins to avoid it and will look everywhere but your eyes. Funnily enough, when he meets a new person he will walk up to them and look them straight in the eye and say hi with a big smile on his face. Anyway, I was wondering what, if anything, I could do to encourage longer eye contact.

Thanks for any ideas!

Tammy
Drew, Ric & Laney, 7/7/01 @ 32w5d

Hi Tammy,

My 2 year old would be considered hyperlexic. He is in speech therapy right now and the therapist is great about keeping an eye on him as a "whole child". Anyway, he has great eye contact with us, but was pretty shy with her at the beginning so, she had us work on eye contact. The only thing we really did was make him look at us when he wanted something. If he didn't look at us, we would not comply with his request until he did...with prompting along the way of course.

Which of your son is hyperlexic? I was wondering if it was your Drew because that is my son's name that also has hyperlexia. Is your son reading a lot? My Drew is really into spelling right now and can spell about 50 words and of course can sight read those words. It is fascinating and scary at the same time. I actually posted on the main forum a couple of days ago about kids that read so early and I got some great responses.

Good luck,

Kelly
Ben, Jack & Drew 05/28/02

Kelly
Ben, Jack & Drew 05/28/02
Charlie 07/06/06
Aunt to: Liam, Aidan & Connor 03/05/08
www.outnumberedmommy.blogspot.com

Yes, it is Drew. I haven't received a diagnosis for him yet, other than the SID. He has many of the signs for hyperlexia so that's why I mentioned it. He isn't reading yet, but knows the alphabet by sight and sound (reading will come next since he's got the phonics down pat), counts to 30, knows all of his colors and shapes (including cube, octagon, sphere, etc.). Basically he's ahead of most 3.2 year-olds.

He also has most of the other characteristics of hyperlexia...unusual fears, echolalia, self-stimming behavior (mostly visual w/ him), strong auditory and visual memory (he can recite The Cat in the Hat almost word for word), tactile sensitivity, and rarely initiates conversations unless it's to request a want or a need or to point out something of interest to him.

Thanks for your input.

Tammy

My daughter Maggie has a hard time maintaining eye contact with adults. I have a large therapy ball (probably 2ft in diameter) and I sit her on and bounce her on it. I'm holding onto her hips. If she looks me in the eyes, she gets a bounce. If she looks away, we stop. She loves to bounce so it somewhat motivates her to make eye contact. I also do this on the swings outside. She gets a push if she looks at me.

She'll turn 3 next month and has come a long way. Her speach is catching up to her peers now that she's looking at faces more.

Gina

That's a great idea! We have a therapy ball and Drew loves it. I usually bounce him before we head off to pre-school to get him organized. I've been bouncing him facing away from me (the OT does it that way) b/c it's easier to hold the ball with my knees that way. I'll turn him around and try your idea. I think that might work wonders for him.

Tammy