No visual depth perception

[MangoMonster]

anyone have a DC who cannot see depth? What issues do you find they need help with and how have they coped? Any play or exercises that can help?

Would love to hear any experiences, realise it's a specific topic.

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

dd3 doesn't. She has trouble seeing steps, stairs, curbs etc and will often think a change in the colour of the floor is a step when it isn't and uneven paths are a nightmare. She has huge trouble judging distance so finds it hard to take something held out for her for eg or where the door frame is. She has plenty of knocks and bumps! Dd3 will not be able to regain this, she just has to learn where things are in her environment, I guess it depends on the cause as to whether you can do anything about it.

[MangoMonster]

theninja my DS is the same completely, he will have to learn depth in another way, which is apparently entirely possible. The play mats at toddler groups always cause problems. He's ok if he knows a step and is good generally at pre-empting it. Although, I wonder about him doing shapes puzzles etc, he tends to slide them in rather than place them in and stacking rings. Just wondered what allowances you made for it. Also, he seems unsteady on his feet sometimes like he's drunk and he hasnt mastered running yet at 2 yrs old.

Basically asking, how much do you think it affects her and what allowances should I make for it?

[madwomanintheattic]

i have the same thing but mine is corrected by glasses (it's caused by two vastly different prescriptions - essentially my brain only 'sees' with one eye, which removes depth) have they said it is not treatable with glasses? what's the cause in your case?

[MangoMonster]

My DS can only use one eye at a time (only uses weaker eye when patched). If his eyes ever get up to same strength he will use both eyes. Long shot though. Apparently you can learn it through other means. I can't imagine how it is to not see depth so just wondered what I should be taking account of. madwoman your experiences would be greatly appreciated.

[madwomanintheattic]

um, it hasn't affected me a great deal tbh, as the glasses prescription corrects it! i can drive and i joined the military and am a reasonable shot with a rifle . the only thing that i still find tricky is skiing in poor light (hard life) as it washes out any residual 'clues' i get from the landscape. so dh will be whizzing by, and i'll be squealing 'i can't seeeeeeeeee!' way before anyone else thinks about packing up and going home.

but i'm an old bird, and so i've learnt to get my clues from what i can see - i know roughly how big a door frame is, how wide, so from how tall it looks to me i can judge how far away from it i am etc. same with kerbs - i know how they work, so i know when to bend/ flex etc. what does freak me out a little is 'out of scale' things, if architects have deliberately chosen non standard staircase etc. i don't actually wear my glasses all the time - just for the things where i 'need' to. my brain is quite used to seeing with one eye!

that said, dd2 has/ had an alternating converging squint (she has cp) which she had surgery for ( at 7) last summer. she will always use one eye or the other (her brain 'sees' with whichever eye focuses first, as the other one doesn't always catch up) so hers is for a different reason entirely. (patching not appropriate for her as both eyes equal - they just don't work together).

oh, and i'm really really really crap at tennis. i can't even play it on the wii, where they fake depth. i think i can count on one hand the number of times i've actually managed to return a tennis ball.

i think it's just a matter of taking longer to work out how to get your clues from the landscape - as he understands how the world works (and what these tricky things called stairs are usually shaped like) and has a lot of practise, it'll get easier.

after dd2's surgery she had a brief couple of days of her brain trying to work out how to cope with two eyes - which because she had been used to only seeing with one, caused no end of problems. she couldn't find the button for the lift (was pressing the wall about 6 inches left), couldn't put anything down onto a table (missed it entirely and dropped stuff onto the floor) and i basically had to walk her around holding her arm and stopping her crashing into everything. as her brain got used to it she recovered! she's always worn glasses for her squint though. and as she has cp she took waaaaaay longer to walk and fell over waaaaaaay more than any other kid, so no real clue which was the cp and which was the visual. at 8 she hardly ever bumps into stuff now... but i suspect she's never going to play tennis either.

[MangoMonster]

Thanks madwoman I can't play tennis either! ;)

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

dd3 has all sorts of other things going on as a result of a genetic syndrome, she won't ever get the depth perception because she has no useful vision in one eye, it's not correctable and the vision in her 'good' eye is pretty crap as well. She's 5 now and we have a really good idea what she can and can't see so we just manage around that, she's had input from a QTVI which has been useful although she's never been interested in puzzles, loved shape sorters though, found them a bit more tactile and easier to manage. She gets hand awareness and mobility training at school which is helping make her more aware of her environment. She was very late with walking and running but she also has hypotonia and hyperflexible joints but she charges around like most other children now, we've just got very good at catching And I can't play tennis either . . . I have no excuse

[MangoMonster]

Thanks theninja, I'll play it by ear, or eye! Lol. Just wondered if it had an impact as eye specialists are saying it doesn't and he'll be fine, which I'm sure is true in the future, but right now he's still learning to deal with it, so just wondered what I could do to help.

Thanks again all

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

do you see a QTVI? I think if he's nothing else going on then it's probably not a big thing but the problem with some specialists is that they only see the bit of the body they deal with rather than the bigger picture so nothing wrong with seeing what else is out there that might be able to help.

[MangoMonster]

Whats a QTVI? Meant to ask earlier but slipped my mind.

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

sorry mango, Qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired. Have a look on your council website, they can usually be found under education somewhere (not to be confused with social services vi team) under something like sensory impairment service. They work with children from birth and you can often self refer so might be worth a call although they're probably on half term this week as well.

[MangoMonster]

Thanks so much ninja, I will look into it, think it could be very useful.

[InvaderZim]

My mum has no depth perception (cross eyed as a baby, eyes still a tiny bit divergent) and functions in life perfectly normally. She can't watch 3D films and has to be vigilant when driving but is otherwise fine!

My understanding is that you can do exercises to train your eyes to work together -there is a medically famous case of a 40ish old woman suddenly developing depth perception after doing them.

[MangoMonster]

Thanks invader will look into that too, could be very useful when he's older.

[blueShark]

Hmmm...DS depth perception got sorted by playing lots of throw and catch ball games, and simple exercises such as track the finger coming towards the nose and away and side to side. He can now go down the stairs properly and catch a ball or object coming towards him.