How come.. | Autism PDD

How come my ds only responds half the time to his name and frequently
does not hear me when I ask him stuff (and he really does ot hear) but
when I say 'candy' he will ALWAYS whip his head around to me. It is just
bizarre. There must be some part of the brain that realizes that candy is
a word of supreme importance and while all other words can be filtered
out as background noise. !?
I am dead-serious: why can't he hear his own name but he can hear
'candy'?

When my son was 3 he wouldn't respond to his name but would come running at the sound of a potato chip bag opening at the other end of the house.

I all seriousness, is there a difference in your voice when you say the word "candy."

Is he responding to you when you say "would you like some CANDY" and when you say it, are you raising your voice an octave on the "candy" word?

How about if you are talking to your dh in a monotone and say "I bought some candy today at the store." Does he pick the word "candy" out of the middle of the sentence and respond to it?

Sometimes kids are sensetive to pitch, and if you are saying the word in a different octave than the rest of your sentence it may be the one word that registers with him. There is a natural tendency, when asking a question, for our voices to go slightly higher pitch on the last word before the question mark.

This is the only thing I could think of right now.

I remember whispering the word "ice cream" when my son was a preschooler and concluding from his reaction that he couldn't possible have a hearing problem. Of course, it might have been the whisper that caught his attention. I should have tried a monotone...

Wish I knew the answer to your question, but maybe it's not so different from what we do, when we're not really listening to the tv or a conversation on the bus and suddenly something catches our attention. He just has a more limited repertoire for what catches his attention.

I've found that my son has gotten better or more "typical" in the area of divided attention -- I remember one of the first signs was when he was in first grade and he suddenly wondered where his little brother was, instead of just being intently focused on his own activity. Now he pipes in on conversations I'm having with his little brother, while he himself is focusing on the computer.

Maybe your son's reaction to "candy" is a sign that the potential for greater divided attention is there.

I'm sure this is something I've seen in my NT siblings...although calling
anyone in my family NT might be stretching the truth a bit! Im sure any
school teacher would tell you that selective hearing of this type is VERY
normal.

hmm... not responding to name, isn't that a red flag for autism?

Anyway, I have tried saying word 'chocolate' in every possible tone and pitch I can say it and DS comes running. He can hear the little fizzy sound of a opening a soft drink a mile away. If only he responded to his name that way.

Mary

http://groups.msn.com/autismaspergersinthefamilyhi

are you using his name before you ask the question example

sam sam do you want a drink

or are you saying

do you want a drink sam

you have to get his attention first

love shell

http://groups.msn.com/autismaspergersinthefamily

Selective hearing here...I was calling Sarah's name while she was totally absorbed in drawing with no response..so I whispered her name just to see what she would do and she turned her head right away!

Maybe they pick up on that tone we use when we have a demand right after stating their name and just altering it a little bit tricks them to turn to us:)

Mine has selective hearing too. We tracked data on this at school. He is
getting better at it. How about this, my husband and did this experiment at
home. We selectively called out our childrens name from different parts of
the house and while they were engaged in different activities. My youngest
asd did far better that his nt/siblings in terms of responding.Simple answer: MOTIVATION. Responding to name could be good or bad- I could be asked to do something I don't even like..... but CANDY- what is not to love about that?????

Foxl, yes we do. My son Max can be brought out of a dead sleep with the word, game. (Video game) playing the game is one of his rewards in therapy. If he earns all of his stickers or stars, he gets to play.

Daniel

Yes we have always said T has selective hearing, too! The therapists CLAIM there is no wilfullness involved ... but WE know better! Sounds like my daughter. I say her name 10 times and after I'm completely out of breath. I scream her name and she hears it. I've tried saying candy too and it worked