Probably an odd question but does anyone else have a child who just can't see glass (particularly glass doors)?

[coppertop]

Ds1 is 8 and has a dx of ASD. He has poor co-ordination at the best of times but lately it has occurred to me that he really can't see glass doors, glass cabinets etc. At the weekend he managed to hit his head very hard on a glass display case. The noise it made was so loud that I really worried that he might have done some real damage to his head. He wasn't running or even walking quickly. He just didn't seem to see that there was something between him and what he wanted to see.

He's had similar accidents in the past, mainly involving glass doors but it was only this weekend that it occurred to me that there might be more to this than just general clumsiness.

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of this? Is it some form of perception that ds1 seems to be missing? I remember reading somewhere that some animals have the same problem but can't remember why that is.

Ds (9 ADHD/ASD) is similar. Our windows are covered in finger marks/ slobber so are more visible - but other peoples are problematic! He also cannot find things against a busy background or where the colour contrast is poor. Yet he has good visual acuity, good colour vision, good steriopsis (when binocular he has an intermittant squint)and reasonable contrast sensitivity. I am sure he has some visual proccessing difficulty just as he has auditory and sensory processing difficulties. Or it might be his 'single channelled' processing?

Haven't answered your question have I! Perception is a combination of the functional visual system (eyes/ brain) and the processing to interpret and use of the information. What visual processing is required for us to notice a transparent surface (assuming visual system in perfect working order)? I suppose it is either imperfections (eg finger marks) or reflections (which move differently to what is viewed through the glass) So it is picking up these anomolies. This would require sophisticated visual processing and higher processing. Interesting question ( Magso tries to remember long ago lectures on visual perception and fails!)

ds2 has visual perception difficulties including depth perception. It does seem particularly poor with glass.
Even our windows, he knows there is glass but if he goes to look out of the window 8 out of 10 times he misjudges it & bangs his head.

Try tinted glasses. Red ones often good (but you can test him with a bunch of acetates- ask him whether he can see better through an of them.

Very interesting about the glasses. Dh has some ancient yellow-tinted sunglasses which he swears help him (dh) to see and focus better.

It sounds as though the visual perception thing might be worth looking into (no pun intended). When he was younger I think he found depth perception quite difficult. Walking down steps used to be difficult for him as he seemed to find it hard to judge where the next step was.

Thanks for the help and ideas.