Tell me about visual perception problems.

[Ineedtinsel]

Dd3 has been assessed by OT and they say that her viual perception skills are below average.

Could this be related to ASD, I have looked in Tony Attwoods Complete guide to Aspergers and cant find anything. I have googled but am not really finding anything.

I asked on here the other day about coloured lenses and got some really useful help.

We are going to CAHMS next week and I want to make sure I have as much information as I can.

Hope someone can help..

I think it can be.. And I may be wrong but I think it's something do do with the processing bit.

Ds2 has funny visual perception.. I'm not sure how much is linked with the sensory issues or if it's a general asd thing tbh..
But CAMHS nurse wasn't shocked in the slightest when i mentioned it to her!.. " yes that's really common".

My DS has both ASD and visual perception problems. Don't know if they are related or not. But we have managed to improve his visual perception a lot with various exercises perscribed by the Sound Learning Centre.

My DD also has had excellent vision therapy from a behaviour optometrist. I can't praise them highly enough. I definately think you should see one of them and see what they think.

Before therapy DS could only read the board if he was directly in front of it. He couldn't copy off the board and couldn't write at all neatly. He had no 3d vision. Now he is much better.

Thankyou both

Indigo.. I will try to find a behaviour optometrist in my area.

List of Behaviour Optometrists

Honestly - they have been unbelievably amazing. I'm going to take all 3 of my children there to get them checked out.

Thankyou Indigo.

We are a bit short of cash at the moment so will struggle to pay for the treatment but hopefully when I start my new job I will be able to save up.

If Your child is 8 or younger it is probably worth doing 'write from the start'. Which is a book you work through every day to improve visual perception.

Ineedtinsel and Indigo - you have both kindly responded recently when I have asked for advice re the above problem which has been diagnosed in my dd3, 8 years old. She has no problems existing alongside this though.

We have an appointment with a behavioural optometrist in January. It seems it is a condition that can exist with any of the common learning disabilities. Its consequences made dd's teachers think she might have Add.

Advice I 've had from specialists or people with experience confirm Indigo's point that results of visiting an optometrist can be startling, and can at least provide some help in most cases so though I don't want to be over-optimistic I am hopeful.

Tinsel, since behavioural optometrists are also opticians, and children are entitled to free checks, I wonder if it might be worth asking if your child can have an ordinary eyesight check on the NHS with some simple extra tests also given to ascertain whether further checks might be a good idea. The practitioner we are visiting offers this service as the full assessment is several hours long and expensive - 350 pounds - though another I contacted carried out a shorter one for 70 pounds. Might it be worth telephoning some nearby optometrists to see if this might be possible?

I don't know whether she was trying to make me feel positive but the ed psych gave me the impression that this specific problem can be alleviated, perhaps more easily than some others so it seems a shame if you have to wait to be able to access it.

Thankyou middlemarch... I feel gutted that we can't access a behavioural optician for Dd3 at the moment and after xmas I am going to phone a few to see if they can help us.

Dd3 is going to CAMHS next monday so that might be one step closer to a dx which might help us to access some funding.

I will look into Write from the start, Dd3 has just turned 8 so we may be able to use it.

Homeboys - as far as I understand it is harder to correct visual perception problems in older kids. So the kind of vision exercises done in write from the start won't work as well on older kids.

I may be wrong though....

Tinsel - our initial check Up was only 70£. But the vision therapy was an extra 250£