Look into my eyes.

The eyes are the window to the soul. Everyday when we are having a conversation with someone, we look at them while they talk to us. We also engage in other non-verbal body language such as nodding, smiling, frowning, etc. These are all requirements in order to have a successful social relationship with a person. Why do we look at people when they talk? What contingencies have we learned from not looking?

Why do we look at people when they talk?

This is because, we as typical developing human beings have contacted the social reinforcing qualities associated with looking. For example, when we look at our friend talk, we are being a good friend because we are showing interest in what they are talking about and in return, we get our friend's approval. We feel good about ourselves when we are good friends. In addition, we also look at a conversation partner out of respect. It is socially acceptable to be respectful to the conversation partner. It makes us feel good when we are playing the right part based on society's standards.

What contingencies have we learned from not looking?

We have learned that when we do not look at our conversation partner, we are being impolite, rude, and disrespectful. We have also learned then when we look away, our conversation partner stops talking. Unless we want to be the snob of the party and the person that is not interested in anyone else other than themself, I think we have learned then when we look at our conversation partner, our conversation partner continues talking and perhaps, if it is a conversation we don't want to have anymore, he might soon stop. Realistically, if it is a conversation that we are not interested in, we do tend to look away and engage in other non-verbal behaviors such as eye rolling, squirming, etc. Hopefully, these signals get picked up on and the conversation is switched.

Children diagnosed with autism, tend to engage in limited or no eye contact during a conversation. How do we teach children diagnosed with autism to maintain eye contact during a conversation?

1) If your child has limited or no eye contact start by calling his name. If your child does not look, a prompt should be used by guiding your childs head to the same level as your eyes and waiting for eye contact. When your child looks, give him/her a preferred edible/toy.

2) Once your child is looking at you independently when you call his name, in the absence of prompts, you can start teaching your child to look at you during a conversation.

3) Remember to magnify learning and start with little steps. So, start with a sentence that lasts for 5 seconds for example "Hey ___, I like your shirt!".  In the 5 seconds, if your child looks away, pause your voice and wait for him to look at you again so you can finish your sentence. So if you say "Hey ___, I" and your child looks away, pause your voice, and when he looks back at you say "like your shirt". If your child looks, deliver a small amount of reinforcer. Reserve the big gun reinforcer for when he looks at you the entire time.

4) When teaching eye contact during conversation, a good environment to start teaching your child is in an environment where there are no distractors and your child is not engaged in an activity.

5) Once your child is maintaining eye contact for 5 seconds, keep increasing the time and changing up the environment. Introduce distrastors, talk to your child when he/she is engaged in an activity, initiate conversations in the community to asses the generalization of this skill. If teaching is needed in the community bring your child out and practice with him/her.

6) Once your child has established eye contact with you, you can teach your child to respond to his peers! Next blog entry will be on teaching your child to respond to his peers!

Like always email with questions please :)