Many children with ADHD have difficulty maintaining eye contact, which is essential in terms of listening to another individual and responding to them. Remember that a child does not have to stare at another individual 100% of the time. He can look at the person and then look away. The key here is whether or not the child is paying attention to what the other person is saying, after which, whether or not he responds to that person.
The first thing to remember if you are concerned that your child does not maintain eye contact when you are with him, or when he is with other adults, is whether or not he maintains eye contact with his peers. I actually had an interesting conversation with a child to whom I teach social skills the other day. I asked him if he realized that he did not look at another person when that person spoke to him. He said that he did know that he was not looking at the other person.
Then, I asked him whether or not he looked at his peers when they spoke to him. Surprisingly, he said that he did so. I then asked why he thought that he looked at his peers, but did not look at adults, such as his parents. He said: “Well, when other children talk to me, I know that everything that they say is important, so I always look at them.” I was stunned, never having heard that logic from a child with ADHD before, or any other child for that matter!
Please comment on whether or not your child with ADHD or a child whom you teach maintains eye contact with either adults or his peers.
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