Look At Me Look At Me

Look At Me Look At Me was originally developed by a para-professional looking for the best way to reach a child. The student had great difficulty maintaining eye contact when being urged to discuss the day's events. Gallagher masterfully created this rhyming game for her student, David Cruz. Supported by the school speech therapist, Gallagher observed that they were on the right track to help David master eye contact during conversations. David began to illustrate the passages demonstrating that he understood what was being taught. The story is followed by a count-off game that encourages the reader to engage with someone else and maintain eye contact for as long as they can count together. Look At Me Look At Me was designed to help foster the development of eye contact in children and elicit non-verbal communication skills. A deficit in eye contact is often found in children with autism and other developmental disorders. Tested and used in a classroom, this book has been proven to cultivate eye contact in a fun way for the reader and caregiver. This book includes a Foreword by speech therapist Maura Lazzara who talks about how Look At Me Look At Me had a significant effect on David's pragmatic skills. The print version of the book includes an Afterword by Ruth Cruz, the illustrator's mother that offers practical tips and suggestions that she and Lazzara developed based on methods of play they both have used over the years. Cruz had conducted a home-based early intervention program for David, when he was between the ages of 2 and 5. David later transitioned into the local school system, and graduated a few years ago. Cruz felt compared to share her insightful ideas, included in the Afterword, from the perspective of a parent of a child with autism. She has always worked very closely with her son David, now 24 years old, to ameliorate his communication and insure his progress. She currently runs a self-directed program for David that provides a forum for him to work as an artist, while he continues to improve his skills interacting in the community. Her hands on approach as a parent-educator/parent-advocate has proven to offer positive results as David continues to work productively and above all…be happy.