Any one else experienced this?

[mum22boys]

M is five and currently being assessed - suggestions so far point to AS. For a while now he tells us of these 'balls of colours' he can see floating around the room. He is very specific and says they come from a box and the colours float around and turn into objects. Origionally it started off whilst he was ill and we assumed they were hallucinations from a high temperature but lately the colour seeing is getting more frequent and no high temperature!

He stayed ay my mums at the weekend and started talking about the colours there. Last night we visited friends and he kept jumping up trying to catch these 'balls' of colour. Later my husband asked him about it and he said the colours were only in our room and his but now he sees them at nannys and other places. He also said when he shuts his eyes and imagines things (e.g a lion) when he opens his eyes he see's it in front of him. i think this is why he can't sleep at night. He always says he has had bad dreams even though the hasn't slept.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this and is it in any way linked to AS. I am getting worried about him and any thoughts from you all i would appreciate.

 

Thanks, mum22boys

[oracle]

The short answer to your question is yes - my eldest can actually see auras coming from certain sounds. The radio radiates lights in our house. He also sees other colours and shapes to. He talks about arcs of lights coming from certain things. He used to be afraid of this but now it's just the norm to him. I also thought that it was confined to him but now the 8 year old has started saying that he can see coloured shapes and lights. Don't know if he's just copying yet though?

 

It does sound as if your son has this to a greater extent and Ian Jordan would probably say that this is a sensory issue and Ian has certainly made sense of many of the sensory issues that my two have.

 

I will do my best to try and persuade David to take a look at your post and reply to you himself. But it could well be Tea time before I manage this as he was up VERY late again last night (should have said this morning)

 

Carole

[Tez]

Yes, A sees auras as well. It's something nobody has ever been able to explain satisfactorily to us. The auras he sees aren't like the auras you encounter with migraines or epilepsy, they are specific to certain objects, he can turn away from the object and he doesn't see the aura but he does sense it, turn back and it's there. As Carole says with her son, A sometimes finds these things rather disturbing but the older he becomes the more he accepts that it is just part of him.

 

We asked the OT if these auras were part of his sensory integration problems and she asked her colleagues but the real answer is that nobody seems to know.

[rainbow queen]

all children are still linked with the spirit world-some more than others-alot of us lose this as we get older

its nothing to worry about.

[ceecee]

I think this is something that has been discussed on here before.People have said their A.S. children experience hallucinations and have bad dreams.I have also read articles that talk about children with A.S.

experiencing hallucinations and seeing auras etc.

 

I am an adult with mild aspergers.i just get the bad dreams bit and the screaming out at night.i have fortunately never experienced hallucinations or seen auras.Hope this helps.

Edited December 23, 2005 by ceecee

[Tez]

I'm not sure about the balls of colour mum22boys son sees or the auras that Carole's son sees but the auras that A sees are definitely nothing to do with hallucinations or nightmares. He can see the auras at any time of the day and is always fully awake. The OT did say that there is a theory that in children with sensory integration dysfunction the messages to the brain get confused so that the sensory information isn't correctly intepretated, so for instance a touch on the arm might not be felt but it might trigger the sensation of a smell - I know that A does sometimes have this problem. She did wonder if this might be happening with A with the auras but felt on balance it was probably something different.

 

Exactly how does m describe these balls of colour? A says that the auras that he sees are very like the wax that you see in lava lamps when it is completely joined and not separated into balls but there is more variation in colour.

Edited December 24, 2005 by Tez

[oracle]

I'm not sure about the balls of colour mum22boys son sees or the auras that Carole's son sees but the auras that A sees are definitely nothing to do with hallucinations or nightmares.

 

David's is wide awake when he sees these colours and is not hallucinating. He does see other things as well as the lights and he senses things. I have often thought that this may be linked to a spirit world - should it exist?

 

Carole

[ceecee]

Carole

 

I think this may have been discussed on the forum at some point before about people with A.S. being able to see auras whilst wide awake and being able to sense things or maybe i have read it on other websites.Not sure

[nellie]

Yes, I believe this has been discussed on the forum before. I have done a search for the relevant topics but they are no longer available.

 

Nellie xx

[Ian Jordan]

There are a number of effects described here.

 

The one of balls is usually due to either visual persistence or flicker / strobing effects which are easily treated. Many people get almost an afterimage effect which may end in a form of double vision in which one image is superimposed on another. In addition there are a number of phenomena in the neurological system that can produce false images.

 

Aura may be due to retinal mapping (and who would discount a spiritual possibility in some cases)

 

THe third effect described is synesthesia in which one sensory system produces effects in another. Can usually be treated very successfully.

 

All these phenomena are relatively common is ASD and nothing to worry about and can be addressed if you wish although you might find difficulties finding someone with enough knowledge to do so

 

If you are worried please e mail me with your phone number

[mum22boys]

Thanks for the replies so far. i will have a chat with m later to see if i can find out some more about the balls of colours.

I feel better knowing he isn't the only one.

Will let you know what i can find out from him

 

mum22boys

[Elanor]

Could this be connected with the phenomena that affects some people where they 'see' smells, or 'hear' them? Perhaps this is the same thing that Ian Jordan mentioned - synesthesia?

[Elouise]

*picking up from Ian Jordans posts*

 

The one of balls is usually due to either visual persistence or flicker / strobing effects which are easily treated. Many people get almost an afterimage effect which may end in a form of double vision in which one image is superimposed on another. In addition there are a number of phenomena in the neurological system that can produce false images.

 

Ain't that JUST so! (yes that was VERY heartfelt) If I make the mistake of looking at any bright source of light it can stay what feels like burnt into my vision for quite a while so that where ever I look the rotton image plays about. Light bulbs for me do appear as 'balls' but the colour I see them as varies according to the background they are against. I always tend to 'see' the rotton things in a contrasting colour but then my EEG said the way my visual cortex reacts is a bit weird.

 

If I do not wear my glasses objects have blurred lines around them a little like the shimmer of heat waves and again my stupid brain has to opt for 'contrast' just to make me more aware feel more sick and my head hurt more.

Its far worse with strip lights and bright halogens. It was part of the set of symptoms that manged to get me a referral to the old eye hospital for an eeg and a chance to meet one of the best profs' working with light triggered migraine available then.

 

For me the visual disturbances started first followed by the 'stomach headache ' typical of migraine in chilren followed by classical migraine with full aura by 13 *ow ow ow*

The man I married simply gets the aura of migraine minus the pain. That is so NOT fair!

 

I did go through a period of wondering if nathan was being psychotic when he began to talk about all the voices he could hear untill I asked him what they were saying and he quoted the today program verbatum that he could hear on a radio three doors away.

ASD for some reason seems to rewire the brains response to sensory inputs so for that reason alone it may be worth enquiring that route first.

[mum22boys]

Elouise,

 

I found your reply very interesting because from what i understand from m he sees these balls of colours mostly in the morning and always at night so you saying that lights cause you problems may fit here.

 

Also Ian Jordan,

 

I was very inteseted in your reply and even looked at your website (I am so new to all this). I was particually interested in synesthesia. Have you any more information on this or can you point me in the right direction to find out more about it.

 

Thanks.

 

mum22boys

[Ian Jordan]

There is relatively little work done on synesthesia (and even then only on specific areas). It is extraordinarily complex and I have great difficulties with some aspects of it.

In essence there are both physiological, memory and cognitive factors that combine to confuse the mind. However, by modification of input it is possible to modify the effects, I do it all the time, BUT i don't always know the mechanisms of cause and effect. I have a basic model but it is far too complex to try and explain in an e mail - it needs a full day of lectures / demos to make it understandable for the layman!

Maybe some day I will be invited to give this presentation, most people with ASD would find it answered LOTS of questions and it also would give empowerment when dealing with professionals, particularly educationalists.

I give lots of lectures at all levels each year but I have never have given this presentation, it would be VERY controversial!

[phasmid]

Food for thought....

 

(This is me talking outloud to myself, if you cna understand what I am getting at. Perhaps we -forum members- could consider a meeting sometime with one or two speakers invited along to talk on subjects that are close to those we need the most help/advice with. Maybe if we were to do it we could keep the costs down to a resonable level where 'we' could afford to attend. Like I say, talking outloud)

[Suze]

This is really interesting, just wondered does,nt everyone experience bright lights remaining after you,ve looked at them???...............for instance you look at a light, then when you look away you see an image of it again but this time like a negative??............probably not making sense but do most people have this or is it unusual?

[Noetic]

There are many things, like Irlen syndrome (which leads to visual distortions, seeing floaters and auras) or Synaesthesia (which leads to seeing sounds, letters etc. as colours, or tasting them and vice versa) that can cause some of the things mentioned on this thread, but I have never heard of genuine hallucinations (as in, watching things turn into actual objects, moving about, or even talking to you) being caused my 'just' AS or sensory issues.

 

What is however possible is that he is experiencing visual distortions, and in his imagination is trying to 'rationalise' the chaotic colours by shaping them into objects he can recognise.

 

There are some forms of ASD that also contain psychotic elements such as thought disorder and hallucinations though, so it might be worth looking into the nature of these visions.

[oracle]

Phasmid

 

Ian is coming to Sunderland in March to do a Conference for AIM Sunderland. OK so it's not a central venue but already we have had interest from parents on the HE SEN list. Some are travelling up from Oxford If anyone from Krism would like to attend please let me know.

 

Carole

[mum22boys]

Suze,

 

I know what you mean by looking at a light and still seeing it after. Yes i am NT and i do this. M however can see these balls of colour in a semi dark room so he has not looked at a light. I find it quite disturbing watching my child follow these colours round the room and attempt to catch them. He will be very precise in telling me what colour they are and is very confused by the fact that i can not see them also. I would love to understand why this is happening. i think he is beginning to realise he is the only one that can see them as he said yesterday that we need to tell the doctor about them.

 

mum22boys

[Noetic]

M however can see these balls of colour in a semi dark room so he has not looked at a light.

Well, the "watching dots" thing is fairly common on the Spectrum, usually it's things like floaters or dustmotes, but I could well imagine that someone with specific visual perceptual issues would perceive these things with colours or auras. And many people with such issues will believe they are going mad, or hallucinating.

 

I definitely was a lot more visual as a kid, when I was in the dark, I had a lot of hypnagogic hallucinations (what you get when you fall asleep, it is quite common but more freuquent in people with sleeping disorders, especially narcolepsy) and then I would just sit and watch patterns of colour, similar to what people describe they see on 'trips'. I don't get that much any more, and I kind of miss it.

[bookwyrm]

I have a lot of problems with my vision, blurry patches moving, shadows and coloured areas that interfere with what I am seeing. I drove the opthamologist mad the last time I had my eyes tested but she could find nothing wrong with my eyes. I get migraines too, but the daily patterns are quite different than the zig zag migraine aura, although there is a phase where the two seem to blend and I realise that one side of my vision is just about useless. That is sort of the preaura aura Migraines amplify my hearing and make any light intolerable. I get ones that make me feel sick, and sometimes get auras that paralyse one side of my face. Even without this feeling I get tongue tied and have word finding problems. Luckily I don't seem to have as much pain as I did when I was younger.

 

I used to sit in the semidark alot when I was a child and watch the patterns. I would try and manipulate them too. I have also done this at times of extreme stress when I can't do anything else. I used to get dreadful dreams where the shapes would morph into horroble images. My son has had these too.

Some of the daytime stuff is afterimages, and there are certain places I can't stand to be because of the light. My mothers kitchen for one. It is a long dark room, but with a big window at one end, so it is dark with one end bright. I can barely see anything in there. Flourescent lights give me head aches too, and my night vision is appalling. I have to drive so slowly at night I drive people behind me mad, but I just can't see well enough to drive faster, and every car dazzles me rendering me temporarily blind.

[Ian Jordan]

everything you are saying can be treated

if you tell me which area of the country you are in I will send you name of someone that will help you

best wishes

Ian

I have a lot of problems with my vision, blurry patches moving, shadows and coloured areas that interfere with what I am seeing. I drove the opthamologist mad the last time I had my eyes tested but she could find nothing wrong with my eyes. I get migraines too, but the daily patterns are quite different than the zig zag migraine aura, although there is a phase where the two seem to blend and I realise that one side of my vision is just about useless. That is sort of the preaura aura Migraines amplify my hearing and make any light intolerable. I get ones that make me feel sick, and sometimes get auras that paralyse one side of my face. Even without this feeling I get tongue tied and have word finding problems. Luckily I don't seem to have as much pain as I did when I was younger.

 

I used to sit in the semidark alot when I was a child and watch the patterns. I would try and manipulate them too. I have also done this at times of extreme stress when I can't do anything else. I used to get dreadful dreams where the shapes would morph into horroble images. My son has had these too.

Some of the daytime stuff is afterimages, and there are certain places I can't stand to be because of the light. My mothers kitchen for one. It is a long dark room, but with a big window at one end, so it is dark with one end bright. I can barely see anything in there. Flourescent lights give me head aches too, and my night vision is appalling. I have to drive so slowly at night I drive people behind me mad, but I just can't see well enough to drive faster, and every car dazzles me rendering me temporarily blind.

[OPooh]

I used to have hallucinations when I was about 5/6. And they were different colour hands. Can't remember why they went away but they did and I don't have AS.

 

The before sleep thing though - have you looked at hypnopompic and hypnogogic (both spelt wrong I'm afraid) images that people can have on waking and going to sleep?

[Canopus]

About once a year on average I experience a very strange hallucination like condition. I feel as if I am about to pass out and get this vision of multicoloured flashing lights all around me. Nothing in particular seems to trigger off the condition. It just comes without warning. The effects don't last long. Usually less than a minute then everything returns to normal. I have no idea what causes the condition. I have seen a specialist neurologist who has never encountered this type of problem before. A brain scan and tests of the electrical activity of my brain have revealed nothing out of the ordinary. The first instance of the condition was in 1997 and nothing similar occured during my childhood.

[ceecee]

Canopus

 

Do you have A.S. Only from what you are describing i believe from bits I have read that some people with A.S. are affected in this way.Hope this helps.

[Canopus]

I have not been officially diagnosed with AS. I don't know if it has anything to do with AS at all because I have only had the hallucination like condition since 1997.