The child who made eye contact

      I have so many children who have touched my heart during the six years that I have worked in the early childhood profession. As I sat here and tried to reflect upon one child I felt I couldn't pick just one. Then I asked myself the question who do I think about most? What child influenced me to become the early childhood leader I am today? As I began to reflect upon this question one child continued to pop into my head, but I could not figure out why. After a little time of reflection I found that reason. For the sake of confidentiality I am going to say the child's name is John Doe.

       John Doe was a little boy who joined my class halfway through my first year of teaching. He began with me when he was just over a year old. I continued to work with him until he was three years old. In the beginning he missed a lot of school and I did not get to see him much. During his first few months at school all he did was cry. He had short moments where he would enjoy himself and play but for the most part he would cry unless his mother was there to play with him. As the month's continued John became more comfortable with the idea of going to school and spent more time playing in the classroom. I soon came to realize that this child was not displaying comprehension or vocalizations. I knew something was not right, therefore I had a conversation with his Mom to see if John verbalized or showed comprehension at home. Mom said he did not. The process began for evaluation. We checked his hearing and completed the screening tools to assess developmental and social-emotional development.  By the time John turned two years old he was evaluated by early intervention and that summer he began receiving early intervention speech and special instruction. The child began babbling by the end of the summer. It wasn't much but I knew we were on the right track. As part of the program I worked at I conducted summer home visits with John and his family. The summer home visits were a wonderful opportunity for me to bond with John and his family.
      By the time Fall came around John and I moved into a toddler classroom together. John had a tough time transitioning from summer home visits to the classroom setting and went back to the days of spending most of his time crying, but this time it was different. Along with the crying he became attached to me and when his Mom was gone he looked to me for comfort. John quickly became comfortable with the fact that when his Mom was not around he could look to me for comfort and he began enjoying his time in the classroom.
      There was one day though where John touched my heart. It was the day John first made eye contact with me. Not once during the past year would John look me in the eye. When we made eye contact feelings of joy came into my heart, a smile appeared on my face, and a connection was made between myself and John. I will never forget that moment. It was something so little, but it meant the world to me and I say to this day, at that moment something clicked for John and he began to thrive.
    The story goes on and by the time John turned three years old he was diagnosed with autism and recommended to attend a school who would have lower ratios at the preschool age. I still hear updates from his Mom on how she and her child are doing and I can't help but feel that I not only made a difference for that child, but for that family as well.