Quick Question - what is integrated attention?

[TotalChaos]

According to SALT report DS has integrated attention. I am assuming this is meant in a nice way

[magso]

Sounds useful!
Not sure what it but ds lacks it! (Ds is very single channelled ie cant notice a bus driving towards him whilst looking for conkers so I guess its something to do with being aware of more than one thing - but I am probably wrong!!)

[sphil]

Is it the same thing as shared attention? Which I know is good!

[TotalChaos]

no it's definitely not shared attention - as it was used in the context "he was able to look at pictures and listen to adult instructions without the need for adult help. This indicates that he has integrated attention"

[bullet123]

Maybe attention combined with understanding?
Do you agree or disagree with this? With Ds1 it all depends on what the question is. For example, suppose he was shown a picture of a shopkeeper. Without help he could tell you what colour the shopkeeper's shirt was, how many legs he had, what he was holding in his hand. However, if you asked him where a shopkeeper would work, he couldn't answer you straightaway. You'd have to do one of several things:
Lead him into the question by saying "a shopkeeper works in a shop. A shopkeeper works in a ..." and leave the last bit blank for him to say.
Give him a choice: "Would a shopkeeper work in a shop or a spaceship?" and even then he will often give a wrong answer.
Ask him questions about what he can see and he can do quite well. Ask him questions that move away from his visual awareness and he really struggles, even with things he has known and been familiar with for a long time.
Eg this morning I was talking to him about washing clothes.
"T, when the clothes comes out of the washing machine, are they wet or dry?"
"Dry!"
"No, they're wet. And we need to dry them. Where do we put the wet clothes?"
"Put the wet clothes."
"Do we fling them onto the road?"
"Yes."
"No, we need to dry them. Can you tell me what we have which would get them dry?"
Silence.
"Would the dryer get them dry?"
"Dryer get them dry."
"Ok, so the clothes are wet. We want to dry them. We out the clothes in the ..."
"Washing machine!"
(The get hung up on the clothes line as well when the weather's fine but I didn't want to stray into complicated territory).
We use the washing machine and dryer very frequently.
Now, if I had asked him what numbers were on the washing machine, or what colour it was, he would have answered no problems, but even a simple question like that exampled above needed lots of guidance for him to get close to understanding. So it does really depend on the questions asked.

[bullet123]

"We out the clothes in the"
should be "put"

[TotalChaos]

yes the above sort of convo sounds very familiar.. colours and numbers DS has been confident with for years.

I think you are right about the definition though - that it's being able to do more than one thing at a time.

btw school teacher thinks DS has no problem with understanding and that his expressive language is similar to his peers.Mind you Private SALT said back in May that at nursery DS wasn't presenting as a child with a language problem. I wonder if the structure somehow helps S mask any language deficits.

[BriocheDoree]

Oooh, bullet that really freaked me out. Those are JUST the sort of conversations I have with my DD. How old is your DS? Does he have ASD?

[bullet123]

Yes, he's 5 and has ASD.

[kt14]

sounds v familiar to me too..

[misscutandstick]

just stumbled across it on another website, and according to that one its something to do with being able to take in lots of information (IE visual, audio, etc) and being able to use the information as a whole, IE Doing a jigsaw (visual and kinestetic) whilst chatting about the day (audio), and pulling up a chair to sit on without looking (proprioception?) and not falling over, and still being able to continue the conversation. Integrated attention.

[bullet123]

"just stumbled across it on another website, and according to that one its something to do with being able to take in lots of information (IE visual, audio, etc) and being able to use the information as a whole, IE Doing a jigsaw (visual and kinestetic) whilst chatting about the day (audio), and pulling up a chair to sit on without looking (proprioception?) and not falling over, and still being able to continue the conversation. Integrated attention."

Good god, I'd struggle with that . It would be:
"Yes, yes, hmmm, No, sorry, no good, I need to concentrate on this"
"But Bullet, that's a 25 piece jigsaw!"
"Can't hear you. what did you say, no good, I CAN'T concentrate now!"

[TotalChaos]

Thanks very much Miss CutandStick. DH would also struggle with that!