Pointing & Gestures

[bedheadz]

Ok I am confused, when I was completing questionnaire for EP one of the Q's is does he point. I ticked yes because he does, but he only points at me. If he wants me to look at something he will actually hold my head and move it to the direction he wants me to look at.

I didn't think at the time when I was completing it so didn't clarify what pointing he actually does.

Do any of your dc's point at all.

I think the question 'do they point' can be misleading as can 'do they make eye contact'. At my dd2s last paed app he noted that she did both yet still said she had some autistic traits!
Im no expert on it but I think it's the quality of the pointing or whether there are other significant factors than the non pointing/pointing if that makes sense??

ds1 pointed fairly well ( or so i thought) but i realise looking back that it was mainly pointing at his own interests/fixations and that shared attention was actually quite limited - but i only really understood this after i saw ds2 pointing in a much more general way. I agree focussing on one aspect can be misleading, you need to assess the overall picture of communication.

Moving your head is very good though - it shows he wants to have joint attention which is really important. I am thinking back furiously to Hanen to try and work out why - I think it's something to do with being the first step in joint gaze, which is quite sophisticated. It's DS not only wanting to tell you something, but wanting to share it with you.

Sorry, I know it doesn't help in terms of the form but wanted to say that it's not a bad thing