No, although it would cause clumsiness. I mean, he says he sees things in 2D - like a picture or TV. Anything further than 15-20 cms from his eyes looks flat. Therefore, a ball being thrown towards him looks like part of the background, just growing inexplicably larger. No wonder he couldn't catch a ball!

I'm therefore assuming a depth perception type of visual problem. I wondered if anyone had heard this discribed/come across it/has it themselves.

Hi there, gollymolly!   I have to go and get ready for church in a few minutes and will come back to this thread...

Got to go now, but when I get back I'll see what information I can find.  I have a library book about the prism lenses and will give you info about that.

Thanks so much, Marcia!

That was a good link, thanks, you have all been so helpful. I wonder how easy they are to get assessed for in New Zealand.

I'm also light sensitive, but I always wear sunglasses (this also helps with the whole eye contact ordeal). But this could help my boy.

That's amazing, zoey.  It seems from the foreword to this book that he started working with autistic patients in the 1990s.

And you're right, he's not involved with Irlin lenses.  His area of work and interest is in prism lenses.

My son's 7, he'll be 8 in December.

It was weird hearing that he was seeing double like that, although when he also said that he could make it happen by choice a lot of the time I realised that I have always been able to do that and never really thought about it.  I also see double, not by choice, and when I do I move my head back and forward to fix it.  When we went to see my parents after the initial appointment my mother says she's the same.  My father felt like the odd one out!

That's what's so fascinating about vision, or any sensory experience I suppose.  What you experience is normal for you and unless someone asks the right questions or shows you an alternative, you never know that your experience is unusual.

Speaking from personal experience, and from recent articles in magazines like "New Scientist", a lot of autistics have exceptionally good visual acuity.  I remember one article quoted that our eyesight rivals that of eagles, although there was some discussion here that the cause could have more to do with our hyperfocus than the eyes being more acute per se.

My own eyesight was 20/20 until a couple of years ago, although now old age means I need glasses to read clearly.  

I'd agree with micgrace and others who've posted on this thread that your son could have an eye problem that is separate to autism.

Alison

Interesting. Is it some kind of stim? I mean, does it have some kind of emotional payoff?

It could very well be. Like I said, I'm not worried about the autism, but I am about his vision. As I said, he has always tested with perfect "eyesight", but I now know there can be other visual problems. I also hate that it could have been caused by his birth - if something is genetic, you can't do anything about it, but this feels like something that could have been avoided

  I knew there was something wrong from the eyeglasses, patch and exercises at about 6 yrs old.  But I didn't notice it for myself until about 7 years old, when my mother had an old-fashioned kind of 3D book where you put on cardboard glasses with one green eye and one red eye and the photos magically turned 3D.  Everyone else could see it so I asked why I couldn't and they explained what 3D was.  Also when I mentioned the flashing walls and the objects jumping around others didn't relate.    

  I play with my eyes to switch between right and left because it is interesting, a distraction, but not in front of others.  I can see double or not at will by doing a slight head turn.  I had to cock my head to focus on anything important until late teens work with Dr. Kaplan's technique.

That must have been tough!

    I think it was a different era.  I guess as kids we weren't expected to be so perfect.  Parents were happy with ten toes and fingers, mostly.  No one was ever worried about me.  Every kid seemed to have their problems.  No one knew about autism or dyslexia or ADD.  It didn't occur to me that I had it bad.  A tilted head just wasn't a big deal then.  I think there is a little more pressure on kids now.

  I can definitely sense that your feeling towards your son's issues are about caring and not about pressure.  And that is a really important difference that not all parents make.  He is lucky to have you.

Lots of problems.  But language is my best area, and I read like a maniac during childhood.  So if I am interested, I will do it.  I have dyslexia where I cannot retain on certain subjects no matter how often I relearn and cannot read instructions well, but I retain for a day or two to pass tests.  Reading is my favorite thing to do anyway.  Who cares about a little discomfort?  It's all gotten better over time.  What does your son have in terms of reading, or both sons, you have two, right?

Sorry, gollymolly.  I got you.  Yes, text jumps around.  The main problem is not being able to see a line of text in a book as a straight line.  It is only straight if you look at a tiny portion of it.  The rest of the line is bouncy and angled.  Also for me, the white part of the paper flashes a little.  He may be seeing double, but he might be able to learn to tilt his head a little to help that.  The main thing that worked for me is I was read out loud to about a half-hour a night, from really interesting books a long time past the normal bedtime story age, so it allowed me to improve my understanding of language without the difficulty of reading and also reinforced the idea of how great reading is even though it's hard.