Personally, I do not agree with eye contact goals as I am learning more about what it means to be a neurodiversity-affirming SLP. I would say that, personally, the more "appropriate" goal would be for joint attention to an activity or task. For me, I struggle with eye contact sometimes, but that does not mean I am not listening you know? I think that could be the same for our clients too. I hope that helps but I am curious to what other SLPs say as I am still in graduate school.

So, in grad school, I learned how eye contact goals can 1. be harmful for autistic individuals, 2. in some cultures, children are not expected to look their elders in the eye because it can be disrespectful.

Some families may want that as a goal, so it may be good to educate them on how problematic eye contact can be (if their child is Autistic).

During my pediatric internship, my supervisor suggested encouraging the child to look in your direction but not forcing them to look us (i.e., the adults) in the eye. As Ary mentioned, joint attention to an activity/task is probably best.