Expert: James Michael Roan - 9/9/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi, my daughter is about to be 6 months old in a few days, and I am concerned about her. I'm not sure if her behavior is more her personality or something more. She is a serious little girl, she seems to take everything in, and doesn't smile and laugh quite as easily as some. She is starting to respond to her name, but not often. A related issue, I often find it difficult to get her attention. She seems to respond more to others than me for some reason, maybe having to do with the fact that I stay home with her and she is bored of me? She does enjoy it when I sing songs to her and play with her. My other concern is that she used to have little "conversations" with us but that has decreased in the past month. I am hoping it is a skill put on the back burner because she just learned to sit independantly. She is occasionally using consonants but only a tiny bit of babbling so far. No imitating as of yet. I am familiar with the 6-12 month flags.
Failure to orient to name- She does sometimes, more often when someone else calls her than me. She responds to voices most of the time.
Infrequent eye contact- She likes to look at people most of the time. She makes eye contact with me, but mostly when I am singing or playing. She will stare at me sometimes even if I am not engaging her. She is better at eye contact from a distance, but still does look at me up close too. The only times I am concerned with eye contact is when I can't seem to get her attention, she might look at me briefly then look away again, or just ignore me altogether.
Smiles in response to other smiles- Like i said, she isn't the most smiley girl but she does smile at us and others, just not all the time. She has little smiles most of the time.
Fixation on objects- No to this, she is curious about everything but her attention span is short.
Decreased activity and passivity- I'm not exactly sure what this means but she is a pretty active and demanding child.
The positive things are that she has some stranger anxiety, she is exhibiting some separation anxiety, reaches to be picked up, and enjoys being around people. She coos frequently.
Do you think I have reason to worry? If I do, what can I do about it? Her doctor said it is too early when I expressed my concerns.
Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi Bonnie;

Please keep in mind that at no time am I diagnosing anything, just providing guidance and direction.

She sounds fine to me, however you can increase her joint attention and eye contact with her by interacting with her like when you sing to her. She is really young. If you are still concerned and if you live in the U.S., you can refer her for an evaluation to your special education/services department in your school district through the Early Intervention program. The services are at school district expense.

Kind regards,
James


Disclaimer:

While James Michael Roan has attempted to make the information on this web site as accurate as possible, the information is provided in good faith without any express or implied warranty. The purpose of this web site is to provide information to families with children, teens, and adults with an autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delay. James Michael Roan does not prefer any one organization to another, and it is not responsible for the information listed on an organization's web site, or any disseminated information either verbal or written. Please be advised we are not giving medical advice and that circumstances can dictate different treatments. If these issues affect you or your loved ones you should seek professional advice. This site is operated for informational purposes only. At no time will James Michael Roan attempt to diagnose or dismiss a potential diagnosis over the Internet. We hope that you find our resources useful.


Bio

James Roan is a certified school psychologist who has been consulting in the areas of autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and learning difficulties in the United States and in Ireland for over ten years (http://www.jamesroan.com). James earned his M.Ed. in School Psychology and M. Ed. in Adult Education and receives ongoing post graduate training in autism at the University of Washington’s Autism Center. James Roan has traveled to Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Clare, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and other cities and counties across Ireland assessing children and adults, and consulting with solicitors (lawyers) in defense of children with disabilities. James Roan was the consulting assessment professional responsible for many of the autism and AD/HD screening tools and other content for Access Special Needs.Com. James Roan consulted with the graduate department of the Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford Ireland in the development of their graduate program for the certification of private autism tutors. James has conducted formal assessments of students in the Autism Unit in the Claddagh National School in County Galway Ireland.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi again,
For the first time, I spent some time another 6 month old baby, and I never really thought my baby's eye contact was anything to worry about until I met my co-workers baby. His eye contact was much better than my daughters, he looked at everyone in the room more often and held eye contact for longer. My daughter looked at him and everyone else and smiled but then was instantly distracted by her surroundings. Is this poor eye contact? Is it normal for some babies to have better eye contact than others and still be typical?

ANSWER: Hi Bonnie:

Please keep in mind that at no time am I diagnosing anything, just providing guidance and direction.

It is common for some children to have better eye contact than others. The essential question here is her low eye contact due to low social interest or distractibility? Low social interest may indicate a social delay or a social disorder as in autism. It would be a good idea to provide her time with other babies an for you to review Stanley Greenspan's DIR Floortime model for developing joint attention.

Kind regards,
James


Disclaimer:

While James Michael Roan has attempted to make the information on this web site as accurate as possible, the information is provided in good faith without any express or implied warranty. The purpose of this web site is to provide information to families with children, teens, and adults with an autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delay. James Michael Roan does not prefer any one organization to another, and it is not responsible for the information listed on an organization's web site, or any disseminated information either verbal or written. Please be advised we are not giving medical advice and that circumstances can dictate different treatments. If these issues affect you or your loved ones you should seek professional advice. This site is operated for informational purposes only. At no time will James Michael Roan attempt to diagnose or dismiss a potential diagnosis over the Internet. We hope that you find our resources useful.


Bio

James Roan is a certified school psychologist who has been consulting in the areas of autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and learning difficulties in the United States and in Ireland for over ten years (http://www.jamesroan.com). James earned his M.Ed. in School Psychology and M. Ed. in Adult Education and receives ongoing post graduate training in autism at the University of Washington’s Autism Center. James Roan has traveled to Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Clare, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and other cities and counties across Ireland assessing children and adults, and consulting with solicitors (lawyers) in defense of children with disabilities. James Roan was the consulting assessment professional responsible for many of the autism and AD/HD screening tools and other content for Access Special Needs.Com. James Roan consulted with the graduate department of the Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford Ireland in the development of their graduate program for the certification of private autism tutors. James has conducted formal assessments of students in the Autism Unit in the Claddagh National School in County Galway Ireland.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: How do I know if it is distraction or low social interest? When we put our babies face to face, she cooed at him, and tried to grab his face and hands. That is the only time she's had interaction with another baby.

Answer
Hi Bonnie;

Place your daughter in a room with no toys that is not "busy" with interesting stimuli. Place another baby of approximately the same age with her and either video her or take detailed notes about eye gaze, smiles, attempts at contact, etc. My guess is that she does have appropriate social interest and is distractible. There are some video sharing web sites other parents have used but I can't remember them now. If you video, I want to see where her eyes are going and her smiles.

Kind regards,
James



Disclaimer:

While James Michael Roan has attempted to make the information on this web site as accurate as possible, the information is provided in good faith without any express or implied warranty. The purpose of this web site is to provide information to families with children, teens, and adults with an autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delay. James Michael Roan does not prefer any one organization to another, and it is not responsible for the information listed on an organization's web site, or any disseminated information either verbal or written. Please be advised we are not giving medical advice and that circumstances can dictate different treatments. If these issues affect you or your loved ones you should seek professional advice. This site is operated for informational purposes only. At no time will James Michael Roan attempt to diagnose or dismiss a potential diagnosis over the Internet. We hope that you find our resources useful.


Bio

James Roan is a certified school psychologist who has been consulting in the areas of autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and learning difficulties in the United States and in Ireland for over ten years (http://www.jamesroan.com). James earned his M.Ed. in School Psychology and M. Ed. in Adult Education and receives ongoing post graduate training in autism at the University of Washington’s Autism Center. James Roan has traveled to Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Clare, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and other cities and counties across Ireland assessing children and adults, and consulting with solicitors (lawyers) in defense of children with disabilities. James Roan was the consulting assessment professional responsible for many of the autism and AD/HD screening tools and other content for Access Special Needs.Com. James Roan consulted with the graduate department of the Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford Ireland in the development of their graduate program for the certification of private autism tutors. James has conducted formal assessments of students in the Autism Unit in the Claddagh National School in County Galway Ireland.