Module 6 Facial Inversion and Configural Processing
Individuals with autism struggle with facial perception and processing as well as reading facial expressions for social interactions. Similar to the characteristics of ASD, these processing skills are no different in Jake. While he will greet you with a hello or good bye (with prompting)- he does not readily make eye contact. To this point I have not called attention to see if it is the eye contact that he avoids while focusnig more on the mouth, or if he is just making head contact. What is clear is that he avoids looking at you during most interactions. This will be observed more closely over the next several interventions.
During our tx interventions with Jake, he is not able to process the emotions (amygdala) or facial expressions that guide our treatments. During one practice session, we ask him to practice imitating our “funny faces” to express emotions and verbalize what we may be feeling. He is unable to complete 2 faces without prompting and cueing at this time. This will play a later role as he continues to develop his social skills and coping strategies. His peer relationships and interactions in large crowds may be impaired as well.
Hey Chris...interesting....I am curious if he does focus more on the mouth as in our articles from this past week. You can sometimes work on having him just orient his body in the direction of the person he is talking to. It is much less intense than "look at him", "look at my eyes", etc.... Also, definitly as you mentioned, the difficulty with reading facial expressions may play a role later with social/peer relationships. This definately comes into play in the classroom and playground, and especially with the added factor of the environmental complexity, right? I definitely feel for these kids! - joan
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteThe "funny face" game sounds like your patient is engaging and probably making eye contact without forcing it. It may even by incorporating Amy's comment about anticipation since I know children almost expect a second funny face once one has been initiated.
Kirsten
Chris,
ReplyDeleteSince we have read that these kids are underresponsive to faces and that they do well with pictures, I wonder if your little guy may have better success imitating a picture of a funny face to start and then work on generalizing to actual faces later?? Meg
Meg,Kristen and Joan
ReplyDeletethanks for the idea of having him imitate a funny face, other than my own. I will see him next week and try it. While I do position myself off to the side of him, perhaps it would better to work across the table...never thought of that (he cancelled this week).
thanks, chris