Eye contact and how to improve it!

Eye contact is the deepest way to form successful relationships and have better social interactions. Eye contact should be established not only when the child wants something from you, but also when she wishes to interact and connect! Always greet your child with a smile and a warm countenance when she makes eye contact with you.This way kids feel loved and cared for! The more your children look at you, the more they will learn, the more they will learn about the world of people, and how people communicate, about facial expressions, about the other subtleties of communication.

Children on the Autism spectrum have challenges looking at people. The more we encourage children to look the more likely they will have successful relationships with their peers.

To improve your little one's eye contact-

• Always position yourself in front of your child so that she can look at you.
• Be at eye level or a little below. Be at least 2 feet away from them.
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  While offering any object/toy.food/book etc to your child keep it in front of your face so that she can look at you.
• Reward your child when she looks at you. Use different tones of voice to celebrate the moment.. You can sing/whisper/ do a little dance or happily denote that the child looked at you!

You can-

• Play with stickers and bindis. Stick them on your face near your eyes. Choose different flashy ones, different sizes and colors. You can include your child's favorite sticker too!
• Incorporate different styles of hats, so that the child looks at your face. You can narrate stories to mimic different people wearing different hats. Use lots of tonal variations in your voice while doing this activity.
• You can cut out different head gears, that make your face look different..e.g. - different hair styles cut out in cardboard etc
• Use wigs! They work wonders..Pink, Orange, yellow, green..pull them all out!
• Candles have been my all time favorite.. They also encourage children to learn blowing ( very important oral motor skill for speech development) and also teach children cause and effect relationships.
• Peekaboo! yes get naughty and playful with your child.You can use curtains, pillows, dupattas or anything that helps you get your child look at you. You must talk to the kid while playing this old age game.
• Face/Eye masks also work well. You can get your child's favourite cartoon character mask and play!
• Bubbles - I personally have found this to be "the wonder tool " for kids who have poor eye to object contact. They get so fascinated by the floating, popping  bubbles..Blow one at a time.. and watch your child enjoy!

 Don't forget to respond back positively when your child makes eye contact with you.. She will surely do it again!