Asperger Syndrome and Eye Contact

[Salsa]

A student in our ECE (early childhood education) probably has Asperger Syndrome. (Tip toe walking, poor social skills/very self-centered in comparison to other students his age, seemingly no empathy, likes to rock and shake his hands in the air, talks but in an odd tone of voice --inappropriate inflection,very high pitch too, doesn't like to be touched, poor eye contact), to name a few.

I'm wondering if anyone can help me with this, though. When talking to him, I'm careful to get his attention but I am not sure, when doing this, if it is good to make eye contact (which he avoids) or look off a bit so that he is not as uncomfortable.

Also, any ideas to help at nap-time. He gets really loud (seldom naps) and has woken up other kids several times.

[Ladybug]

Salsa:

I am not familiar personally with Asperger's, but my ds had alot of the same symptoms you mentioned when he was 3-5 years old and then matured more. As for the eye contact and if they really do have Asperger's, I thought I read that Vitamin A supplements corrected this if caught early enough. As for nonAsperger's kids, I would make my son aware of the eye contact and try to engage him more, but it may be most comfortable at times just to talk to the child sitting side to side and not directly face to face. Nap time, my son never could nap and I think he only slept 2 hours a night for years. Many of the smptoms you described could be sensory processing issues and an immature CNS as well and I wonder if he is small for his age? The smaller size is typically an explanation for the voice pitch and inflections, which will resolve with age according to the therapist that evaluated my son, so no treatment was needed. Does he calm if he does centering exercises, like if you take both arms and cross them over his chest? Again, is he shaking his hands after being frightened? My son was terrifed of male voices, but outgrew that quickly as well. He has hyper tone and the chiropractor has dramatically and quickly improved not only his hypersensitivity to touch, but his respiration as well. These are more things of course for the child's parent, not you I guess and I'm unclear as to whether the parent has a clear diagnosis for the child?