Eye problems

[mariek]

hi, today my son's school rang to say he was in the medical room saying he couldn't see anything. This has happened before, but only after an incident involving his eyes ie, he poked himself in the eye or looked into the sun. I assumed he was doing his usual overreacting. This incident didn't involve his eyes but a boy did punch him in the arm. He said as he walked away his eyes went all fuzzy and he couldn't see anything? I'll probably go get a referal to see an optometrist just to be safe, but was wondering if anyone has had any problems like this? He also sometimes complains he can't see the board in school, but the teacher said she believed it was a delay/avoidance ploy when he doesn't think he can complete the task given.

This is the problem that I struggle with most when dealing with my gorgeous boy. How do you decide what may be a diagnosable problem ie hearing/vision and what is a stress response? My husband often says 'just because he has asperger's, doesn't mean he has anything else wrong' and I say, 'but what if he does?' I'd rather know than not, but I worry I look like a neurotic mother to my GP!!!

[coolblue]

Hi Mariek

 

My son (diagnosis of ASD) has been found to have abnormal eye movements. He gets nystagmus (wobbly eyes) when he lifts his head up if he's been looking down. I've seen this in other autistic children. Nystagmus can occur if there are balance problems, and a lot of children on the autistic spectrum have problems with balance. He'd had several eye tests but this wasn't picked up until we went to see Ian Jordan http://www.jordanseyes.com/

 

My boy also has an auditory processing problem that wasn't identified in several hearing tests, so you need to make sure that any optometrist or audiologist you see has experience with children with developmental disorders.

 

In my son's case I don't think he has auditory and visual problems as well as autism, but he has autistic characteristics - and therefore a diagnosis of autism - because of his visual and auditory problems. They explain all his problems with social interaction, and communication and learning difficulties.

 

cb

[Karen A]

Hi.You don't need a referral for an ordinary eye test at the optician and it is free for children.I would certainly suggest that if your child complains of being unable to see the blackboard it is worth checking.Shortsightedness is a very common problem.

 

Karen.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Karen A

[Sally44]

A friend of mine, who did not 'believe' there could be any significant difference with coloured lenses or overlays has recently had to eat her own words. Her son is in an autism unit within a MLD school (not really suitable, but the best placement available at the time). Anyway, someone came into school to 'assess' the children with overlays. They talked to her son about the 'spaces' between words. Apparently he did not know what they were talking about. His writing was also a long string of letters, and he could not read or copy off the black board.

They worked with different coloured overlays, and with one particular colour, when they placed the overlay on the writing he said "oh I see what you mean about the spaces". His mother says his reading and writing has come on enormously over the following months.

Not every child has this kind of difficulty and there are many different types of visual perceptual difficulties. But, as you say, you need to follow up concerns you have and those raised by your child.

First get his eyes tested properly by an optician and then consider other kinds of visual perceptual difficulties that are known to affect those on the spectrum.

Also consider Sensory Integration Disorder. Many children/adults experience senses going 'off-line' when there are high processing demands or cognitive load. There can be delays between visual and auditory perception as well as auditory processing disorder and auditory processing delays.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Sally44

[RainbowsButterflies]

A friend of mine, who did not 'believe' there could be any significant difference with coloured lenses or overlays has recently had to eat her own words. Her son is in an autism unit within a MLD school (not really suitable, but the best placement available at the time). Anyway, someone came into school to 'assess' the children with overlays. They talked to her son about the 'spaces' between words. Apparently he did not know what they were talking about. His writing was also a long string of letters, and he could not read or copy off the black board.

They worked with different coloured overlays, and with one particular colour, when they placed the overlay on the writing he said "oh I see what you mean about the spaces". His mother says his reading and writing has come on enormously over the following months.

Not every child has this kind of difficulty and there are many different types of visual perceptual difficulties. But, as you say, you need to follow up concerns you have and those raised by your child.

First get his eyes tested properly by an optician and then consider other kinds of visual perceptual difficulties that are known to affect those on the spectrum.

Also consider Sensory Integration Disorder. Many children/adults experience senses going 'off-line' when there are high processing demands or cognitive load. There can be delays between visual and auditory perception as well as auditory processing disorder and auditory processing delays.

I cannot agree with this post more! I am not in any way dyslexic, but I suffer with visual snow. The difference I experienced when tested with overlays over nonsense text consisting of real words. I had not realised how much the words moved until they stopped. I was tested yesterday by a Cerium qualified optician and had a 7% increase in reading speed even with a high starting rate (158 wpm), and made less mistakes (I was missing lines out when I couldn't logically follow the text). Apparently dyslexic readers can have reading speed increases around 40% which is incredible!

[Ian Jordan]

hi, today my son's school rang to say he was in the medical room saying he couldn't see anything. This has happened before, but only after an incident involving his eyes ie, he poked himself in the eye or looked into the sun. I assumed he was doing his usual overreacting. This incident didn't involve his eyes but a boy did punch him in the arm. He said as he walked away his eyes went all fuzzy and he couldn't see anything? I'll probably go get a referal to see an optometrist just to be safe, but was wondering if anyone has had any problems like this? He also sometimes complains he can't see the board in school, but the teacher said she believed it was a delay/avoidance ploy when he doesn't think he can complete the task given.

This is the problem that I struggle with most when dealing with my gorgeous boy. How do you decide what may be a diagnosable problem ie hearing/vision and what is a stress response? My husband often says 'just because he has asperger's, doesn't mean he has anything else wrong' and I say, 'but what if he does?' I'd rather know than not, but I worry I look like a neurotic mother to my GP!!!

Edited November 27, 2010 by Ian Jordan