Hmm, turns out ds's visual problems are quite majorly affecting his learning / processing? quite far behind..... Anyone able to sympathise / advise / chat?

[mumoftrio]

I feel like I am doing a crap job with him tonight :(

Me. I hope your ok?

How old is your DS?
Does he have DX?

Im going out this morning but will be on later if you want to chat.

do you have access to any specialist advice re:schooling from the visual impairment service?

Ill respond in sequence thanks guys -

to woolyjo

*Me. I hope your ok?** just a bit flumoxed thanks but ok, have lots of issues re ds on the boil and I am no expert so all take me by surprise if that makes sense!

How old is your DS? nearly 7 in Jan

Does he have DX? dx? whats that. He has really strong glasses only realised needed them at nearly 6 - and ambylopia / patches. appar alot of his delays and behaviour may be because his processor is on a go slow having had a processor that did not deal with proper sight as such. school think aspergers, optician thinks its eye related and me? well I dunno!

Im going out this morning but will be on later if you want to chat - thanks xxx

any ideas?

Hi so riven sorry to hear about your wee lass's struggles. ds cant read either the optician said his eyes dont make a clear picture for him by any means and with one being very lazy its hard for him to concentrate.
He throws tantrums as cant do it (he says) and optician says tracking he cant do so no chance re reading,

my ds feels thick as everyone else galloping ahead and he is not.....so playing up which is tricky....

they think aspergers.

what IS aspergers really - if it fits with me ds I sure as heck dont know!!!! areghhhhhhhh

totalchaos I didnt even know there was a visual impairment service potentially _ ill ask the shcool if its relevant or if there is one as he can see as such if that makes sense.

the optician says I need to stimulate his senses like get him games like press the letter c and then he has to seek it out to press it as that will make his processor follow an auditory instruction to then do something visual

any ideas anyone? xx

mumoftrio, does he see an optician or is he under the doctor at the hospital? Your area should have a sensory impairment service that the hospital should refer your ds to. They will have a teacher of the visually impaired who should come and visit your ds in school and assess how best to help him. You can often find the details of the sensory impairment team on your council website, you might be able to refer your ds yourself. Dx is short for diagnosis.

we are in scotland do you think that may well be the case here - how would I find out do you know? xx

he has an optician and is under the hospital but no one has said anything re help he could get..... actually the optician is helpful by default just cos she is lovely if that makes sense.

Hi,

As bigcar said dx is a diagnosis. Im not sure about services re visually impaired but others (bigcar :)) can help there.

If school say possible aspergers then you need a referral to a development paediatrician, see your gp. If you look on the National Autistic Societys website there is more info about traits. I suggest you write a list of your DS's difficulties before you go...its easy to forget stuff when your in there!

Who mentioned his delayed development/processor issues? If this has been mentioned Im sure he should have a development assesment...not just an opticians opinion???

Has school suggested referral/observation by a proffesional?

Im definately no expert but have learnt many new things thanks to Mumsnetters!

I hope your feeling ok, it can be stressfull when your fighting to help your DS.

had a quick google, you may find this guide useful-

www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/viscot/parentguide.pdf

for basic info on aspergers, look at www.nas.org.uk - it's usually diagnosed by reference to a triad of impairments - social interaction, social imagination and communication

it may be that having sensory problems that haven't been supported in school etc can be causing aspergers like behaviour - e.g. imagine just how cross you get if you have a temporary hearing problem (say waxy ears), you can see how frustrating it can be. or it may be that your ds has both a sight problem and aspergers.

As woolytree says, it would ideally be a developmental paediatrician who would rule aspergers in or out.

thanks guys

I feelllllllll so upset though and weak for the fight. It actually feels like trying to find a needle in a hay stack

I know that sounds dramatic but not knowing which way to always go is HARD amongst the normal challenges of life eh.

it is hard, as you soon realise that you have to check, double and triple check everything for yourself, and can't rely on the left and right hands of the NHS/LEA etc to know what they are doing!

another thought - if he has severe enough visual problems to have affected his learning, should he be under a hospital optometrist? do you have an approachable GP you can ask. also may be worth you speaking to local branch of RNIB.

I know it can be really overwhelming at times can't it! Does your ds just see an optician or is he under a consultant opthalmologist and the orthoptist? Is he registered visually impaired/blind? If he is registered then there is a lot of help you should be getting. TotalChaos' link explained about the teacher of the visually impaired and the support they should offer. If he's not registered, enquire about doing it if his vision is that bad, some people are reluctant to register children for some reason. Most social service departments also run a specific vision and hearing service that you would get access to.

There are a number of charities that you can look at for visually impaired children. There's the RNIB as previously mentioned, NBCS national blind childrens society, highland society for blind people if that's anywhere near you and victa there may be others local to your area that a google may bring up for you.

as wooly and TC said, sounds like you need a referal to a developmental paediatrician to get a proper dx if appropriate, and a consultant opthalmologist and orthoptist if you're not already seeing them. There are a huge range of tests for all sorts visually so you should be able to get a really good picture of what he is seeing. I also think that TCs point about his behaviour because of poor vision being mixed up with aspergers is a good one.

may of the social problems that are characteristic of Aspergers/ASD are aslo symptoms of a visual imparement.

For example, How do you make eye contact when you can't see someone's eyes clearly! how do you learn to read facial expressions and predict behavour in others?? to a visually impared child other people's behaviour can seem unpredicatable.

my dd is partially sighted and they've diagnosed ASD despite putting in the letter of diagnosis that all her difficulties can be explained by poor vision and they cannot determine if the root cause of her social difficulties is visual or ASD. (but in the line above it says that lola's dd has ASD)

The VI (Visual imparement team) have been brilliant for us. When we told them about CDC wanting to diagnose Autism they said not again.... we go through this with most of the VI children, will they never learn? It seems not.

my advice to you would be to phone your local council switchboard and as to be put through to the VI service. there should be a service for children and adults but there may just be one department. but there will be somebody out there and they will be able to advise you about what other help is there for you

DD has ASD but also poor eyesight (or rather one eye perfect, one eye really longsighted, picked up rather late...) she sees an orthoptist and this has made a HUGE difference to her concentration and tracking ability. Eye contact has improved.

you guys are making me feel SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better!!!!!

Thanks I love Mn I love how we can all combine our knowledge and I feel much less alone too! in my troubles!!

ps, will ring re is there a visual impairment service tomorrow.

ps, what does CVC stand for?

CDC = child development centre. which is somewhere that often (but not always) is the place children are referred to for ASD assessment.

wouldthis be in scotland too? do you know xx

they do have cdc in Scotland, just google child development centre and the name of your area and they should come up. You generally do need a referal through your gp so that's the place to start.

If you're in scotland have you tried Jordans Eyes