Only encourage the child to look at you, never force them to. One way of getting eye contact from a young child is to get down to their level, bend your knees or get down on the floor, lie on your tummy or even sit on the floor and put the child in the chair, all of these will bring you to their level making it easier to maintain eye contact. Down syndrome is a congenital disorder, which results in intellectual and physical delay. It is not yet known what causes the alteration. Autism is a development disorder in which sensory messages are impaired, people with autism have difficulties in communication, social behaviour and perception of the world we live in.
Autism is present at birth and the characteristics become evident in the first three years.