Expert: Trey McGowan - 2/3/2008

Question
I am serving a little 5 year old boy who is on the Austim  specturm (low end).  He spends a great deal of our session with self stem by twirling his hands and placing them in his mouth.  His eye condition is Optic Nerve Hypoplasia.
I've noticed that when I am working with him he keeps his eyes to the right.  No matter where I position the object his eyes stay to the right.  If I place an object in his central view, he will reach directly for it although he is not looking at it.  My question is, is he turning his eyes this way because of him being Autistic or his eye condition.  He also speaks in an unknown language, which can be confusing since I'm not sure what he is asking for or declining.  

Answer
Hi there, Kim!

The use of jargon is a common thing with people who've got linguistic difficulties. At times, it is an attempt to make themselves understood in any way they can, while in others, it is genuinely the only way they can process certain parts of the language. If the jargon is actually being used the same way every time, then there is a good chance some speech therapy may be helpful in the communication issues, or at the very least you should be able to start learning what means what, and can understand and communicate in that way! Either way, I suggest seeking out a local speech therapist and talking with them about the communication issues. They would be better equipped to be able to know through observation how to help your son with the communication difficulties.

As for the 'not looking', it could genuinely be either. Not looking at the eyes is a very autistic thing, and not focusing directly on objects is fairly common, too. As an example, I do very little typing while looking at my fingers, and not even at the screen at times. Mind wanders, eyes wander, and keeping focus on one thing can be very difficult. However, the eye condition can cause this issue as well, since there is a high percentage of children who have focus issues. If I had to make the guess, I would say it's more likely for the Hypoplasia to be at fault, though the autism isn't helping things much with the urge to focus on objects and people.

Hopefully that helped answer your questions! If you have feedback, replies, questions, follow-ups, whatever, you know where to find me!

Trey