My husband has HORRIBLE vision -- nearsightedness, and astigmatism, AND convergence problems. He has one eye that drifts when he is tired (it looks CREEPY!). Plus as a child and even now his prescription changed every time they refracted him, including WITHIN ONE APPT.! Small wonder he had so many symptoms as a kid, eh? I would definitely put him on the spectrum. In the 60's he was considered MR by the schools, until age 13, and he is SO not!My son has low tone and has starambosis (crossed eyes) almost from birth. It was really bad-thought he'd need surgery before 2, but it corrected enough he doesn't need surgery or glasses. The brain can do amazing things sometimes.
Well I don't have autism, but my eyesight is very bad. It always has been. It wasn't noticed until I was 6 though - because back then they didn't do screenings and they just didn't notice those things. However, my teacher noticed that I always sat in the front row and still squinted like crazy to see the chalkboard. I still remember the first time they put corrective lenses on me and I realized what the world was SUPPOSED to look like. I can't even tell you what my vision is - I do know that I have custom-made contacts. My power in my left eye is -10.5 and in my right eye is -12.0 and I have an astigmatism in that as well. Basically, I couldn't identify a person sitting right in front of me if I didn't have glasses or contacts in.
It's NOT common to have significant myopia that young, but it does happen. I don't think that has anything to do with being on the spectrum - visual processing issues can, but I don't think actual vision does. My ds has 20/25 vision but has visual tracking issues and strabismus.
By the way, if your child can handle it, get her contacts at an early age (10 or so). I got contacts right around then and it stopped the deterioration of my eyes. Because the lenses are ON your eye, as opposed to being an inch or so away from them (and also causing strain due to looking out the sides of the glasses) - you are only using the contacts to see. Not having to worry about eye strain from trying to use peripheral vision out the side of the glasses. Anyway, that's something to think about WAY in the future - but keep it in the back of your mind until then...
Marrissa went to the Eye Dr because I just wondered if she could see very well as shes super clumbsy and holds things really close to her face.
Sure enough shes near sighted and has stigmatism. Her vision is 21/80 and Im currently trying to raise funds for her glasses.
Are vision problems common? the Eye Dr said vision that bad is uncommon in children of her age and it will get worse :(
My 10 yr old has vision processing problems...especially with convergence...he likes to look at things up close but has 20/20 vision...I feel that visual processing problems may be fairly common in kids with autism; however standard myopia/astigmatism is really rare in small children. Was she a preemie or is anyone in the family really really nearsighted? I usually don't even see little ones in my office with myopia (even if mom and dad wear glasses) until about age 5 because it is really uncommon younger than that. There are some children (usually preemies) who are nearsighted from infancy; however usually small children tend to be farsighted.she was 3 weeks early... her dad is nearsighted but not very bad. they had to special order her frames because shes so young and they said the cheapest it will all cost together is 0Aloha, Renee
Vision and hearing loss can cause autism-like symptoms, so it's important that every child is properly checked like your child was.
My son got vision testing as part of the evaluation leading to his autism diagnosis. It was a nightmare to get him to cooperate with reading the symbols on the eye chart at his 4 year well-child check-up, but it went fine at the regular optometrist a year later, partly because they use a machine that can tell if the eyes are farsighted or nearsighted.
He also did a stereogram card, which is a hologram picture of a couple everyday objects that you can only see easily if your eyes work well together. We went to an orthoptist when my son had iffy results with the stereogram, others go to a developmental optometrist.
The orthoptist could tell a lot about my son's vision even though he didn't cooperate very well with her exercises. The orthoptist said his eyes are pointing two slightly different directions, but right now it's still in the normal range.
We'll be getting him re-checked regularly, because he might have inherited my husband eye condition -- he has eyes that point in two slightly different directions (not noticeable when you look at him). He needs prisms in his glasses to fix this. For some people it causes problems with reading ability but for my husband it just results in headaches if he doesn't wear his glasses. He needs glasses only for the prisms, not for near- or far-sightedness.