Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 3/29/2009

Question
QUESTION: I'm not sure about other people but he will make eye contact with me and his father without us saying look at me. Just not often. He usually looks me in the eye if he wants something, like if his ball is stuck, he'll walk up to me and say BALL and point to the ball and he usually does then while looking right in my eye. He looks at my mouth any time I'm talking or singing to him, even when we are just quitely cuddling. He will look at my eyes sometimes when playing peek a boo.. I mean he is constantly looking at me and for me but he looks at my mouth instead of eyes. Even when we do say look at me, he looks at our mouths not our eyes. I have to tell him to look me in the eye and then he will point to my eye and say eye.

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Answer   Is this your first child?

 I hope my answer will be of help to you



Hi,
Yes, he is our first child. Please let me know what your thinking about him.


Answer
I asked that question just to know if you have had experience raising another child. Then comparing one to the other can sometimes help to figure out if there are things that stand out as being issues.

But since this is your first child, I have to say that you should follow up with a developmental pediatrician. Though, just having one behavior wouldn't make a child autistic, there may be other things that your doctor noticed that made him or her feel that there was a possibility that your son has a developmental delay of some sorts.

There is a syndrome called Asperger Syndrome. It is in the autism family though the issues are different. They may be more subtle and are usually in the social realm. Eye contact is considered a social behavior. The individual usually has good language.  

So go get him seen by an expert-just to get an expert's opinion. Then get back to me.

Valerie Herskowitz
valerieherskowitz.com