Exclusivity

One of the defining factors of Autism is that a child has Repetitive Behaviours, here at The Autism Treatment center of America we also see that not only can a child be repetitious but also "exclusive". What do we mean by "exclusivity"?

Exclusivity is when your child is not paying any attention to you. Their attention is on something else, maybe they are focused on a particular object like a book or a ball or a spinning top. Maybe they are simply just wondering around the room seemingly oblivious to the fact that you are in there with them, or that there are many fun toys in the room. Maybe they are just staring at a wall or the ceiling. You may have asked them something and got no response from them. The activity itself does not have to be repetitious, although it can be, just that they are not paying attention or being responsive to you.

How can you tell whether your child is being exclusive?
First ask yourself these questions, "Does it matter whether I am here or not?, meaning I have no real part or role in this game. If the answer is yes then most likely your child is being exclusive.
or, "Would my child notice if I left the room?", if the answer is no then most likely they are being exclusive.

When our children are exclusive they tend to have less facile expressions, more of blank look on their faces, they tend not to look at us for long periods of time, often positioning themselves away from us, moving away from our touch and looking at us less.

In order for us to be aware of this it is important to start to look for this. To spend a minute really looking at our children and to see where their attention is, is it with us or on something else. Then when we see that they are exclusive we can start to join in with what they are doing, but first we have to notice that they are being exclusive.
Click on the link below to see a video that will explain how to join your child.
http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/document.php?sectionid=46&documentid=47&filenum=03

Have fun noticing where your child's attention is and joining them.

with love to you!
Kate