Why does he look in windows?...

Post Reply New Topic

Hi,
Parent of an 11-year old here, with a question that I don't have an answer to. Sometimes when my son (diagnosed AS) is talking or explaining something to me, he watches himself in the reflection of the window, or a glass case, if we're around one, and partly talks "to himself," at the same time he's talking to me. Can anyone give me an idea of why he does this??

I should say, this is a child who doesn't find it very difficult to look at people's eyes.

It's not a big deal, but I'd like to know why.

Maybe he's distracted by his reflection or he likes the way he looks?

Well, you could ask him... I mean direct question really work well with autistic, just ask nicely - feelings can get hurt autistic or not .

I did the glass thing too, especially on the point of curbed glass effect.
Oh, made me think of Narcissus (link)

On the talking to himself could be thinking out loud, invisible friend, having a conversation/discussion with ones' self, etc.

Perhaps it is like when one talks to oneself in the mirror; maybe he is doing it in order to keep mental tabs on how he looks while he is talking. I find that when I talk to myself in the mirror, my mouth does not run away with my mind and start speaking at the same rate as I am thinking (that is to say, much too quickly to be understood).

[quote="Wallourdes"]Well, you could ask him... I mean direct question really work well with autistic, just ask nicely - feelings can get hurt autistic or not .

I have thought about asking directly in the past, but didn't want to embarrass him.

Because it's interesting.

People with autism may not be able to filter out sensory information, we get it all at once so we're a distractable lot. Some of of may have ADHD as well.

I used to talk to myself too. Sometimes actually speaking out your thoughts makes you understand them better.

I look at my reflection a lot too. Not just to check my hair but to see how I look. But like I said we get distracted a lot. We also have an attention to detail. I always look around at things people hardly notice. It's interesting.

I am into studying movement because I want to do animation. He could be looking at the mechanics of his own jaw movements or even the way his face reacts to different sentances said to him or by him as he speaks. Does he like looking at spinning things like fans?

I do this a lot when I walk past shop windows or parked cars. Sometimes I even get accused of looking into car windows to steal stuff by people passing by. I do it mostly when I am walking and day dreaming at the same time.

I do this too. A lot.

I've never really given much thought to why though.

Though I suppose it's just nice to be able to know exactly what the person behind the face is thinking (even if just it's 'Hey, that's me!').
Plus I suppose it's also partly stimming (for me at least).

Pensieve:

I loved your response . And yes, he does also have ADHD!...and is distractable.

I used to do this at his age as well for three main reasons.

one. I wanted to see what others saw. How I looked.

Two. I wanted to see if I could read my own face. since I could not read others.

three. I used to watch so much godillza I started to feel sound and sight were out of synic. and thought it looked funny when I talked because I was the only one insynic.

I used to do that, too! Of course, there are a lot of reasons it could be, so asking him would be the best... as long as you let him know that no one minds him doing it, and you're just very interested, maybe he wouldn't be embarrassed. :]

When I used watch myself as I talked, I was mostly watching my mouth. For me, it was strange to hear myself in one place and see my mouth moving those same words in another place. I also liked that I knew what words were going to come out of that mouth (my mouth, I knew, but the reflection made it visually separate from myself, for me) so it had a soothing, hypnotic feel ... it gave me something solid to focus on. Besides that, I also just like how reflections look in glass (mirrors are unremarkable...) They can become transparent and ethereal, or shadowy like in a sidewalk store window.

So, I mean, there are three reasons right there just for one person... so ask him! His reason might be something way more interesting~

So, I asked him why, nicely, saying I was interested. He got embarrassed, and said it was "personal."

Oh, well.

I'll just have to speculate, until he tells me some day!

Oh -

Todesking:

After I realized he was embarrassed, I told him your story about looking at car windows and what some people thought! He giggled.

Awwwww.....

I look in windows, because I like the way that I look. Maybe that's why he does it.