Why Does My Child Have An Inability to Recognize Or Differentiate Faces?

Does he or she have an inability to recognize or discriminate between faces?

Is it extremely difficult for your child to identify a person who shows up in a different setting or context than the one they’re used to?

Does your child wait for you to wave before they come over when you’re picking them up from an event?

Does your child become clingy or withdrawn in public places?

Does your child approach strangers thinking they’re you?

Does your child have difficulty following plots of characters in movies?

Does your child fail to recognize familiar people, like neighbors or close relatives, especially when they see them out of context?

Does your child have difficulty making friends?

Does your child seem withdrawn at school, but confident at home?

Based on your answer, it is unlikely that your child has a clinical problem with recognizing and/or differentiating faces. If a child does have an issue with these things, he or she may be suffering from face blindness, a brain disorder, also called prosopagnosia. A child may have a very hard time noticing differences in faces of strangers. Sometimes they may even struggle to recognize familiar faces. If you would like to know more about the disorder, you can always talk to your doctor.

Based on your answers, your child may be displaying a few signs that he or she is having a hard time recognizing or differentiating between faces. These signs may be related to a condition called face blindness. It's recommended to plan a visit to your doctor and let your child be examined. Face blindness, or prosopagnosia, is a brain dysfunction characterized by the inability to recognize or differentiate faces. But the symptoms of face blindness can also be attributed to other things, and therefore it’s important to seek medical advice. The condition may have some frustrating consequences for your child, including difficulties forming relationships. The symptoms may also cause social anxiety or depression.

Unfortunately, your child is displaying several symptoms typically seen among individuals who have face blindness. It is essential to get your child evaluated by a doctor. Face blindness, or prosopagnosia, is a brain dysfunction characterized by the inability to recognize or differentiate faces. There is no cure for the condition. Treatment usually focuses on finding coping mechanisms to better identify other people. Your child can learn to focus on other cues to identify someone, for example noticing their curly hair, or their voice, or the way they walk. Many researchers are working on understanding better the causes of the condition.