Assessment - visual processing

[Ian Jordan]

Bagpuss asked me to comment on the asessments on her family (normally I would consider confidential - but they may help people understand)

 

We initially assessed her youngest daughter (6) and found her to have a slight tendency towards overconvergence. Her spectacle prescription was minimaly short sighted, but lenses improved her distance vision significantly. It was not necessary to wear it for reading and this allowed us to precribe for distance wear without it affecting her over convergence. Overconvergence can cause dificulties with reading etc. We used objective methods to assess colour performance but felt it would be better to wait and see what happens in about 3 months with her clear lenses.

 

With her next daughter (9) we addressed her facial feature recognition, her short term memory, her visual persistence and auditory processing problems. She was slightly long sighted. Synesthesia (cross over from one sense to another) was found with the most important effect on her auditory processing.

 

It was clear to me when I talked to her son that he had problems which his mother was unaware of! So, we assessed him too. He had significant visual and other sensory processing problems including facial recognition problems, auditory processing deficits, eye movement problems etc. There was a significant improvement in his sensory processing.

 

Finally, we looked at bagpuss. The main effect was that we reduced massively her chronic pain!

 

These are normal changes, please make sure all your children are assessed - it doesn't have to be us - but it is vital

 

to get an idea look at www.jordanseyes.com there is an enormous amount of info that is useful

 

For those that have expressed a wish to see a lecture, there is even video extracts of one of my talks!

[Bagpuss]

Cheers Ian for explaining that more clearly for me/us........I knew my rambling post about coloured lenses would make no sense

 

I have to say too, that my humiliation was not over once we realised that DS has probs, which I'd not noticed After I was assessed it was agreed that I would probably be better off having brown tinted lenses in my glasses. I explained to Ian and his wife that the glasses I had at the mo were transition lenses, so Ian asked if they went brown or grey outside.......................had to admit I didn't have a clue Although I'd paid a small fortune for them, I always bought sunglasses for a fiver, and had never worn my glasses outside

 

DH pipes up " I didn't know you had transition lenses, how much did they cost.......and your not even wearing them outside!"

 

I'd also paid to have some form of anti glare from puters on the lenses too.........and never wear them on puter (he doesn't know about that though )

 

*hangs head in shame*

Edited August 28, 2007 by Bagpuss

[something vague]

Maybe if you had been wearing your glasses you would have seen the flex inside your kettle before you filled it with water

 

Ian, the difficulty with face recognition....what can be done about it? I have real trouble with this which makes me very nervous when meeting people and its very difficult at the beginning of the term when I have new pupils to work with at school! LOL I always though that i just wasnt very observant

 

Last year we had a new member of staff and on the first day (in service training) she changed her hairstyle 3 times! This was so difficult and embarrassing for me cos I had to double check she was the same person!

 

SV

[Ian Jordan]

Ian, the difficulty with face recognition....what can be done about it? I have real trouble with this which makes me very nervous when meeting people and its very difficult at the beginning of the term when I have new pupils to work with at school! LOL I always though that i just wasnt very observant

 

Last year we had a new member of staff and on the first day (in service training) she changed her hairstyle 3 times! This was so difficult and embarrassing for me cos I had to double check she was the same person!

 

 

 

Facial recognition problems are easily treated - but very few practices have the instrumentation - all those on the spectrum should be assesed. Lots of info videos etc on website

 

best way to find out whether there is a difficulty

 

get your child to look at the tip of your nose. If an adult use someone else) Without them moving their eyes get them to describe how much of your face they see (watch their eyes for even slight movements). Normal is eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth all very clear.

Anything other than this needs urgent attention as life is so much better if you can see faces well!

 

look up prosopagnoia on this site too

Edited August 28, 2007 by Ian Jordan

[HiLo]

Hi I would just like to say what a differance Ians glasses have made to both my son and daughter,they have only had them a short time but we are already noticing things like much better eye contact,fewer tantrums etc.They both wear there blue glasses with no problems although my 12 year old daughter has to bite her tongue to stop her commenting on things on people faces which she has never seen before(spots,facial hair etc).If someone was to offer me loads of money for there glasses i wouldnt take it and Ian Jordan is not paying me for saying this. Thanks Ian Joyce

[something vague]

best way to find out whether there is a difficulty

 

get your child to look at the tip of your nose. If an adult use someone else) Without them moving their eyes get them to describe how much of your face they see (watch their eyes for even slight movements). Normal is eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth all very clear.

Anything other than this needs urgent attention as life is so much better if you can see faces well!

 

look up prosopagnoia on this site too

 

Thanks Ian, I tried that and I see everything clearly so i guess My problems with recognition are to do with holding the features in my head.

 

Surely if someone has difficulty in actually seeing the the whole face at one time, they must also have difficulty seeing their surrounding environment (like tunnel vision!) and the problem would be easy to identify...due to bumping into stuff etc! Or is it that people with the condition learn to adapt....moving eyes and head more to 'scan'?

[Ian Jordan]

No - the way the brain deals with information is more complex than that.

However - if you have recognition problems there may be other difficulties that need addressing

 

Try looking at a face and see what happens when it moves - if it blurs there may be another type of problem

 

 

Thanks Ian, I tried that and I see everything clearly so i guess My problems with recognition are to do with holding the features in my head.

 

Surely if someone has difficulty in actually seeing the the whole face at one time, they must also have difficulty seeing their surrounding environment (like tunnel vision!) and the problem would be easy to identify...due to bumping into stuff etc! Or is it that people with the condition learn to adapt....moving eyes and head more to 'scan'?

[smiley]

Ian - My sons consultant is now sick of me talking about you, lol! I've passed on your website address to her - she's mightily impressed . Would you be happy for me to pass on your email?? Didn't really want to send her here - as i've had a fair few strops about her over the years - and i'd rather she didn't read them!

[Ian Jordan]

there is an email contact on website to IanJordan@visualdyslexia.com - anyone can use it

[smiley]

Of course! So amazingly blonde - i surprise myself sometimes!

 

Thanks

[NikkiSmith]

This whole thread just makes me even more determined to bring my boys to see you!

 

I must get DP to stay in the country long enough and I WILL succeed...although I am wondering if I had better bring my 6yr old (NT) too - just in case!

 

Think I'll stick to flying there and back in one day though, I am not staying in a B&B overnight with three boys and I'm not even considering the caravan option!

 

 

Nikki.