- Main Symptoms of Prosopagnosia
- Causes of Prosopagnosia
- How to deal with the child with Prosopagnosia
Prosopagnosia is a disease that prevents the recognition of facial features, which can also be known as 'face blindness'. This disorder, which affects the visual cognitive system, results in the inability to remember the faces of friends, family or acquaintances.
In this way, the features of the face do not provide any type of information for these people since there is no ability to associate the faces with each person. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to other characteristics to identify friends and family such as hairstyle, voice, height, accessories, clothes or posture, for example.
Main Symptoms of Prosopagnosia
Some of the main symptoms of this disease include:
- Inability to recognize facial features; Difficulty in recognizing friends, family or acquaintances, especially in situations where the encounter is unexpected; Tendency to avoid eye contact; Difficulty following series or films, as there is no recognition of the characters' faces.
In children, this disease can be mistaken for autism, due to its tendency to avoid eye contact. In addition, people with this disease tend to notice more easily and fix the characteristics of their friends, family and colleagues, such as clothes, perfume, walking or haircut for example.
Causes of Prosopagnosia
The disease that prevents the recognition of facial features can have several causes, including:
- Congenital, it has a genetic origin and the person deals with this difficulty since birth, never having been able to associate a face with a person; Acquired, as it can appear later due to brain damage caused by heart attack, brain damage or stroke, for example.
When this disease has a genetic origin, children find it difficult to recognize the parents and close family members, and using this information the doctor will be able to diagnose the problem by performing tests that assess the visual cognitive system.
On the other hand, when this disease is acquired, its diagnosis is usually made while still in the hospital, since it arises as a result of brain damage.
How to deal with the child with Prosopagnosia
For children with Prosopagnosia, there are some tips that can be valuable during their development, which include:
- Paste photos of friends and family around the house, and identify all photos with the respective name of the person (s); Help the child to associate people with specific characteristics such as hair color and length, clothing, posture, accessories, voice, perfume, among others; Ask all teachers to avoid touching the color or haircut during the first month of classes, and if possible, ensure that they always carry a personal object that identifies them more easily, such as glasses, a watch or earrings, for example; to friends and acquaintances who identify themselves when they get close to the child in everyday situations, especially when the parents are not present to help identify the person; Ensure that the child participates in activities after school, such as football, dancing, games or other games, as they help develop their ability to identify and memorize voices and other characteristics.
Some of these tips can also be useful for adults, especially for those who suffer from Prosopagnosia and who are still learning to deal with the disease. There is no cure for Prosopagnosia, and the best way to deal with the disease is through the use of techniques, tips and tricks that facilitate the recognition of people.
