My DS spent 20 minutes today trying to "find" a bowl that I asked him to pick up. It was sitting on the floor just under a chair and when I asked I said "Can you pick up the bowl under the chair near your sister please?". I thought it was a fairly easy request of him but he proceeded to walk past it, forget what I asked and generally drive me mad over this bowl for 20 minutes. I kept my cool and persisted (he was getting frustrated but not to meltdown point) I got steadily more elaborate on my description of its location, I got down to his level and pointed at it so that his eyes "should" have been able to follow my arm to the bowl. I lead him closer and pointed again. None worked until I gave up then he suddenly walked over picked it up and said "This bowl?"
I was going totally nuts trying to figure out how he could miss a bright blue bowl laying on a cream floor
My question is, is this a thing I should mention in our appointment or is it just a kid thing? I know ASD kids have issues with pointing but the ease with which he walked over to it after was like he was doing it deliberatly. Basically not sure of the relevancy of bringing this one up at the doctors....
Yes I would definitely mention this ,But if your unsure if it was deliberate or not try for the next few days to have him get things for you,start with easy stuff and make it get harder.
My son has a problem with this ,although it has gotten better.Eg..
My ds and I picked up some toys and put them in a box under the (Kitchen) sink(my sinks are accessible no cabinets under them),we went into another room and then he wanted a toy ,I said "Zachary,The toy you want is in the box of toys under the sink,I saw it there when we picked them up".After about 5 min I went to see where he was ,he was standing staring at the floor under the( bathroom) sink.
Good Luck,Linda
We experience these kinds of things here, too. I'm finally realizing that these tasks aren't as simple as they look. Auditory processing problems might get in the way, as well as general distractibility. It gets worse if he feels under pressure.
One thing that helped my patience and understanding are gtto's video "Boiling Water." You can view it and read comments about it from this topic on our forum.
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17003&am p;KW=boiling+water
Another thing that helped me was this online activity which shows how some person with autism experience the world.
http://www.jambav.com/jambav/tools/tools.php (just click on JamX)
Also mention this to the OT and the speech therapist. Your son may have issues with motor planning or with the logic of following multi-step directions. Or it just might be a MALE thing. My Dh often can't find something that is right in front of him, LOL!This is an OT issue.
LMAO Tzoya, my DH also has this problem. I frequently ask if he has had a "boy look" or a "girl look". However this was differant in some inexplicable way. When I would point with his chin on my arm to help him get the direction, he still couldn't see it.
NorwayMom, Loving that JamBav site. It has some great insights into the special needs world! It honestly hadn't occured to me that other noises might be causing issues. My ds frequently asks after noises I can't hear and I had just put it down to better hearing than me lol
Linda, I am trying your suggestion of putting objects in a differant place than usual, then getting him to look for them. So far it's mixed results, seemingly on his mood. He will either follow the directions relatively easily or have a meltdown cause I don't get it for him.