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Original poster

Visual impairment and ASD, a link?

48 replies

MangoMonster · 12/10/2011 18:49

Just seen on an email from sensory integration network and NAS conference a talk about the following:

Autism is more common in visually impaired children than in fully sighted children. In this seminar we will explore the nature of autism in visually impaired children, and discuss meeting the needs of children who have a visual impairment and autism. We will focus on the Resource Pack recently published by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) the UK's leading charity offering information, support and advice to people with sight loss.

Sorry if I'm being dense but is this link between ASD and vision common knowledge?

OP posts:
zzzzz · 12/10/2011 20:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ThePumpkinofDoomandTotalCha0s · 12/10/2011 20:30

Hmm, had a quick google, and the RNIB describes having a visual impairment and ASD as being low incidence/very low incidence, which doesn't suggest there is that strong a link /baffled.

coff33pot · 12/10/2011 20:41

No not heard of this link to be honest.

oodlesofdoodles · 12/10/2011 21:03

Our neurologist mentioned this to me. It's not that ASD children are visually impaired, it's that blind babies/children miss out on so much non verbal and pre verbal interaction that they may develop ASD type traits.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01696.x/full
There's some Scandinavian studies including this: www.icevi.org/publications/ICEVI-WC2002/papers/03-topic/03-brandsborg.htm

Original poster
MangoMonster · 12/10/2011 21:14

oodles, that exactly what myself, dp and family have suspected about DS but none of the experts think that could be the case.

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Original poster
MangoMonster · 12/10/2011 21:17

Thanks, I'll take a look at the paper. Wish I'd know there could be an impact on his development when we decided to treat his eye condition, make have prepared us to help him overcome any effects of the patching. However, our eye surgeon assured us there would be no impact :(.

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oodlesofdoodles · 12/10/2011 21:40

Is your DS visually impaired then? How is his vision now?

oodlesofdoodles · 12/10/2011 21:42

This may be of interest to you then:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02274.x/abstract

Lolaismyfavouriteandmybest · 12/10/2011 22:34

Dd is visually impaired and has a diagnosis of ASD. Our support worker says that our CDC diagnose or try to diagnose lots of her children with ASD citing evidence like not making eye contact, not being able to read social situations (well she is missing all non verbal cues!) rigidity of play is also a normal response to reduced stimulation (dd has to be shown how to play with something rather than just working it out by looking at it or watching what others do) I can't remember the other bloomin bit of the triad but it was also explainable by VI.

I'm also Visually impaired and the cheeky doc at CDC said dd's ASD should come as no surprise to us as it clearly runs in the family!!!! Cos I don't make eye contact etc.....

It's like they see what they want to see (no pun intended)

But in today's crazy world dd's school are so focused for ASD it is far easier for me to get small changes made by raising the ASD diagnosis than saying she needs adaptions due to VI!

zzzzz · 12/10/2011 23:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

oodlesofdoodles · 13/10/2011 08:57

Lola, what is CDC?

Original poster
MangoMonster · 13/10/2011 15:54

DS has does have a visual impairment, although not severe. He lost all sight in his right eye somewhere between the ages of 2-8 months (difficult to determine). He has had his lens in this eye replaced and his eye now works perfectly with glasses, but he suffers from amblyopia (his brain doesn't use the images from that eye).

In order to get his brain to use this weaker eye, we have to patch his stronger eye for half his waking day. Which means that after the operation when he was 10 months old, we completely took away his sight (by patching everyday).
A year later he has 50% vision in his weaker eye, which is amazing progress. However, no one mentioned that patching could have an impact and we did have our suspicions...

Now we have a dx of ASD which we all think has be exacerbated by the patching...Just wish I had been given a heads up or not been so naive...then may be I could have done something differently and reduced his difficulties.

I have not found any scientific studies on patching for amblyopia plus DS had a specific issue which is incredibly rare and not easy to find a comparison for research.

I have looked high and low to see if there is any link between delayed development and patching....then I see this, so I'm kind of shocked. I know it may not mean anything in DS particular case but can't help thinking.

OP posts:
Original poster
MangoMonster · 13/10/2011 16:00

Have just re-read my post, I sound like a drama queen! lol, sorry. Just been thinking about this for a long time.

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Original poster
MangoMonster · 13/10/2011 16:05

Thanks oodles for the links, looks very interesting. This is exactly what my family and I have been hoping...that it could be reversible to a very high functioning degree, if his ASD behaviour is only excaberated by the patching. Hoping ABA will help with this.

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wannaBe · 13/10/2011 16:24

can I interject here slightly?

I don't have a child with ASD, but I do have a visual impairment...

I've never heard of a link between ASD and visual impairment, however, in children who are totally blind I have witnessed a high instance of certain trates, such as rocking, hand flapping etc which I suppose in ASD terms would be described as stimming?

In the VI world these behaviors are called

\link{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindism\blindisms}

Although I fundamentally disagree with the reasoning behind them - i.e. that blind children lack social interaction etc etc etc - just because you can't see doesn't mean you can't interact socially, having said that, those I know who displayed such trates were also children whose parents tended to overprotect them more.

Obviously I don't have any scientific evidence to back this up, but having attended a school for the blind it is quite a common occurrence.

I suppose it's not inconceivable that with the increased understanding of ASD a link may be made at some point..

IndigoBell · 13/10/2011 17:05

This is interesting. DS had no sight from 3 - 12 months. And he has ASD......

dolfrog · 13/10/2011 17:57

Following some of the links to research papers mentioned above I found the following which may be of interest.
Theme Issue ?Autism: mind and brain? February 2003 and Following Gaze: Gaze-Following Behavior as a Window into Social Cognition

Original poster
MangoMonster · 13/10/2011 18:05

DS has good eye contact as we always sang to him when patched and looked at him....good eye contact is apparently atypical for ASD.

Also, I really believe the stimming started around the time we started patching, through lack of stimulation. He couldn't see (which came on very suddenly i.e. we just started patching him, he'd always been able to see before through his stronger eye), so he couldn't explore toys that much apart from with his mouth, wasn't mobile at all until 14 months.

His stims are tensing and squeezing his body and hands, plus mouthing everything, whenever excited, frustrated, wants something...anytime really he wants to communicate.

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Original poster
MangoMonster · 13/10/2011 18:07

dolfrog, thanks will take a look.

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Original poster
MangoMonster · 13/10/2011 18:09

Thanks wannabe.

^Causes of blindisms[3] include

The inadequacy of sensory stimulation causes the child to seek stimulation using his own body

Social deprivation due to limited interaction with other people

Limited physical and motor activity as the child cannot easily move to another place and change his environment to satisfy the basic need for movement and physical activity

Lack of ability to imitate and learn socially acceptable behaviors^

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Original poster
MangoMonster · 13/10/2011 18:11

Blindisms sound very like ASD traits...so what happens if you regain your sight? has your brain already developed in an alternative way to NT, or can it change?

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oodlesofdoodles · 13/10/2011 20:09

Thank you for the links Dolfrog. I'm ploughing my way through the second one.

Original poster
MangoMonster · 13/10/2011 20:14

oodles does your dc have a visual impairment too?

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oodlesofdoodles · 13/10/2011 20:27

Mango like you I have been wondering (agonising) over whether the brain can be re-wired after early sensory deprivation. I think your DS is younger than mine, so I would say that he has a better chance. Good eye contact is a wonderful thing. My DS is making great progress with language, but eye contact and gaze following are really difficult for him. I suspect that's wired in now and he will always find it difficult.

Indigo, I've read posts of yours suggesting that your DS has made amazing progress. When did you recognise that he had ASD traits? When did you start therapies?

Like Mango's child my DS had an extremely rare disorder. He was completely paralysed for several months during the first year of his life. At this time his interaction with others was minimal (non existant). One of the papers' in Dolfrogs links talks about gaze following peaking in the second half of the first year.

In our case there was no developmental risk assessment. I'm trying to put together a complaint about it, but I know they will defend themselves and cover their backs to the last.

dolfrog · 13/10/2011 20:27

Regarding Blindisms the main reference for the Wikipedia article no longer exists, which can happen a lot with Wikipedia stub articles.
You could have a look at this article from Autism Today POSSIBLE VISUAL EXPERIENCES IN AUTISM (it is a Word.doc download)