Comments on: Eye Contact May Be Overrated

By: This Week’s Top Posts

This Week’s Top Posts — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 23:17:32 +0000

[...] Eye Contact May Be OverratedWhy, or why not, or why maybe, autistic kids need to be taught to “look at me.” [...]

By: Daisy

Daisy — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:35:03 +0000

Amigo (Asperger’s Sundrome) is also congenitally blind. He is still learning “face contact” because it is socially important.

By: Quirky, NOS

Quirky, NOS — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:56:28 +0000

[...] bursts of “PoPo [Cantonese for “maternal grandmother], school doctor,” looking in other directions for long periods when spoken too: These may well be something more than quirks, and they signal [...]

By: Whitterer on Autism » Blog Archive » Wordless Wednesday #3

Whitterer on Autism » Blog Archive » Wordless Wednesday #3 — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:57:02 +0000

[...] know now, that it was probably one of my more futile campaigns, but hindsight is so often 20/20 as “Kristina Chew” points out in her recent [...]

By: Samantha

Samantha — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:46:34 +0000

Kristina, the idea had been floating around in my head for most of the summer. I can’t remember now what prompted me to actually write it down though.

I too grew up in a culture where it was not kosher for the young ‘uns to look the grown folk full in the face. We managed alright.

By: mcewen

mcewen — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:20:45 +0000

We fell for that one hook line and sinker a few years ago. We could have spent our time [and theirs] much more productively. So much for hindsight!
Cheers

By: Lolasmom

Lolasmom — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:47:35 +0000

Lola has never had any problem looking me in the eye – she’ll even grab me by the chin to force ME to look at HER when I’m distracted or doing something else (no, as far as I know no one has ever done this to her!). Same goes for other members of her close inner circle. Now, with strangers its another story – brief glances is all she’ll muster at first until she feels comfortable and/or decides she likes them. (Her father’s side of the family is a shy, quiet lot. I don’t think Lola’s great-uncle has ever looked me in the eye for more than a few seconds!)

Why eye contact has been held up as the holy grail of autism symptoms still confuses me… I really have never seen what the big deal is. It’s a total pet peeve of mine that, as soon as laypeople find out Lola has autism, all they do is try to get her to look at them. Geez! I know she feels pressured (and pestered) by it, and it makes her avoid their gaze all the more.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:35:17 +0000

Samantha, I hadn’t seen your post, thanks for the link—maybe it’s the start of a change in thinking about the “importance” of eye contact.

By: Leanne

Leanne — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:43:31 +0000

Patrick has what I call “face contact” when he’s communicating with you. I believe eye contact is overrated.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:27:11 +0000

Funny, just last week I was saying that eye contact is really overrated.