Children on the autism spectrum often have difficulty with the long-term goal of making eye contact. This may be due to difficulty focusing on making eye contact while actively listening to others, or not understanding that making eye contact with another person can relay important emotional context within  a conversation. Children on the autism spectrum may find eye contact to be an overwhelming sensory experience, or even a painful experience, or both. It may also be a combination of these factors that makes making eye contact difficult. 

Individuals without autism typically place great emphasis on eye contact when interacting with others, and regard it as a method to connect, show interest in a conversation, and sometimes as a sign of respect. For example, in classroom settings, a teacher may look for eye contact from students when teaching to gauge their attentiveness. Though a child on the autism spectrum may not be looking directly at the teacher, they could just as well be paying attention to the class in a different way, for example by listening. However, to the teacher and perhaps even to their peers, the lack of eye contact with the teacher can appear to be disrespectful and indicate a lack of attentiveness.

It is important to understand that your child may never truly become fully comfortable making eye contact with others. However, you may need to help them find methods to practice the long-term goal of making eye contact. It is important to be aware of sensitivities that children on the autism spectrum have related to making eye contact and practice this long-term goal in a manner that is appropriate for your child and that minimizes stress. To help your child with the long-term goal of making eye contact, you can work with your child on the short-term goals of making eye contact for a set amount of time, making eye contact while someone speaks, or following something or someone with their eyes. 

The following strategies may help your child make progress towards mastering the long-term goal of making eye contact:

• Direct your child’s attention. When talking with your child, make gestures with your hands near your eyes or hold items that you’re using near your face as close to your eyes as is safe and possible. This helps to direct your child’s attention towards - but not directly at - your eyes. For example, if you’re talking with your child about their favorite snack, you can hold it up near your eyes. Your child will likely have their attention on the snack, but its proximity near your eyes will also include your eyes in your child’s  field of vision, making the appearance of eyes more comfortable for them. You can also casually brush your fingers near your eyes while you talk to your child.
• Look your child in the eyes. It is a good idea to model the behavior you want from your child with respect to eye contact. You should not practice this in a situation where your child is unsettled, uncomfortable, or distracted. A good opportunity to practice making eye contact is when your child is talking about something they’re excited or passionate about, such as their favorite animal. Rather than looking away or splitting your attention, give your child your undivided attention and look them in the eyes as they speak to you. Make sure that your gaze is friendly and your body language shows interest and does not seem overbearing or threatening to your child. It’s important not to force them to make eye contact with you when you’re doing this. The purpose of looking your child in the eyes when you’re talking to them is to model the behavior that you want them to display. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. 
• Build up to looking into the eyes. Instead of jumping directly into asking your child to look you in the eyes, you can begin with asking them to look at different parts of your face, moving closer to your eyes as you go. For example, you can start with asking them to look at your mouth while you’re talking to them. Reward them for looking at your mouth. As your child becomes comfortable with that, you can move to your nose, then to your eyebrows, and eventually to your eyes. Be sure to reward your child with a reinforcer as well as providing encouraging words.
• Explain making eye contact. Depending on your child’s age, it may be pertinent to explain to them why you think that making eye contact is important. Use age appropriate explanations when speaking with your child. For example, you can explain to your child that making eye contact with their teacher is important because it helps the teacher know that they are paying attention in class and that it is a sign of respect. Make this an open conversation and make sure to listen to what your child has to say. If your child describes it as painful or distracting to their processing of information, it may be pertinent to find alternatives to making direct eye contact with others.
• Provide alternatives. If you notice that your child finds making eye contact very distressing and/or painful, you can help your child find alternatives to making eye contact. You can suggest that they look at the space between someone’s eyebrows instead of into their eyes, or suggest that they focus on the speaker’s right ear. This allows the child to look towards the other person while they are speaking and appear as if they are looking them in the eyes when they are not actually, reducing the stimuli from eye contact.

For the short-term goal of making eye contact for a set amount of time, you can choose the targets of making eye contact for 3 seconds, making eye contact for 5 seconds, or making near-eye contact with a forehead for 5 seconds.

Making Eye Contact for a Set Amount of Time

• Step 1: Decide the window of time in which you would like your child to achieve making eye contact. For example, you can choose the target of making eye contact for 3 seconds while working on the short-term goal of making eye contact for a set amount of time. The task analysis for making eye contact for 3 seconds could be as follows:

1. Sit in a chair at eye level across from another person.
2. Put hands against face with fingers pointing up, and with thumbs near eyes and pinkies facing forward to block line of sight on your sides (peripheral vision).
3. Get the other person’s attention by saying their name.
4. Make eye contact.
5. Count slowly to 3. 

• Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as a picture of people making eye contact, or a verbal SD (“Time to have a staring contest!” or “Let’s see if we can have a staring contest for 3 seconds!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt their part independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently  (i.e., their part). For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently (i.e., their part). Alternatively, if your child is able to complete their entire part of task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete it independently (e.g., 10 seconds, 30 seconds, etc.).
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of making eye contact for 3 seconds), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt their part independently . When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to sit across from each other, then cup your hands around your eyes to block everything on the sides, followed by making eye contact and counting to 3).
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently  (i.e., their part). Decide if you want to utilize forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete their part in all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at making eye contact for 3 seconds during a session. 
• Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of making eye contact for 3 seconds by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at making eye contact for 3 seconds over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete their part in all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of making eye contact with someone speaking, you can choose the targets of making eye contact with someone speaking for 10 seconds, making eye contact when verbally asking for something, or making eye contact to identify eye color.

Making Eye Contact With Someone Speaking

• Step 1: Decide what type of eye contact you would like your child to learn to do. For example, you can choose the target of making eye contact to identify eye color while working on the short-term goal of making eye contact with someone speaking. The task analysis for making eye contact to identify eye color could be as follows:

1. Sit in a chair at eye level across from another person.
2. Get the other person’s attention by saying their name.
3. Make eye contact.
4. Ask the person what color your eyes are.
5. Wait for a response.
6. Tell the person their eye color.

• Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as an image of different eye colors, or a verbal SD (“Time to tell each other our eye colors!” or “Let’s compare our eye colors!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt their part independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently  (i.e., their part). For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently (i.e., their part). Alternatively, if your child is able to complete their entire part of the task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete it independently (e.g., 1 min, 3 min, 5 min, etc.).
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of making eye contact to identify eye color), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt their part independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to sit across from each other at eye level, then ask them to identify your eye color, followed by identifying their own eye color).
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently (i.e., their part). Decide if you want to utilize forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete their part in all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at making eye contact to identify eye color during a session. 
• Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of making eye contact to identify eye color by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at making eye contact to identify eye color over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete their part in all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of following (or tracking) with your eyes, you can choose the targets of following (a person, an object, etc.) with your eyes for a set amount of time, following (a person, an object, etc.) with your eyes from one point to another, or switching visual focus from one thing to another (a person, an object, etc.). 

Following with Eyes

• Step 1: Decide how you would like your child to learn to follow with their eyes. For example, you can choose the target of following with your eyes from one point to another while working on the short-term goal of following with eyes. The task analysis for following with your eyes from one point to another could be as follows:

1. Sit in a chair at a table with a piece of paper and pencil on the table in front of you.
2. Pick up the pencil with your dominant hand.
3. Place the tip of a pencil down on a piece of paper. 
4. Look at the starting point where the pencil meets the paper.
5. Draw a line across the length of the paper and follow the line with your eyes.

• Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as a picture of people making eye contact, or a verbal SD (“Time to draw a line and follow it with your eyes!” or “Let’s follow the line as we draw it!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently. For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Alternatively, if your child is able to complete the entire task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete it independently (e.g., 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, etc.).
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of following with your eyes from one point to another), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to place the pencil down on the paper and draw the line, following with your eyes from the starting point to the finish point).
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Decide if you want to utilize forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at following with your eyes from one point to another during a session. 
• Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of following with your eyes from one point to another by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at following with your eyes from one point to another over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.