Vision and Autism

You probably have realised that most babies and children like to look in your face and not only at what they are doing or what is in front of them. but they also look around to see what else is there that they might like.  And bright colours, loud noises, flashing lights - these are the things that most babies and toddlers enjoy.

I remember having a drink of apple lucozade (I think it was) and a friend’s baby noticed the bright green of the bottle and was holding her arms out to get it from me.  She wanted to play with it and it seemed quite amusing to us at the time.  So once I had  finished and put the lid on, I gave it to her to explore.  Of course I would NEVER have let a baby take a bottle like that unless the lid was on and closed properly!  She had great fun exploring the shape and size of the bottle.  So why not let her?

There are times children have their eye on something which you KNOW is going to be a really BAD idea!  You can see the dangers surrounding them having control of whatever it is and to keep them, yourself and others safe, you have to deny them the object of their desire.  I was round visiting a friend in 2009 and her very newly toddling toddler saw my very pretty stick and was obviously wanting to play with this new exciting object, but I had to refuse.  So you could see her little mind working to try and figure out how she could get it.  Firstly she went to her Mum and was pointing back at me, but her Mum said that if I had said no, that was it.  She toddled off out the room and came back smiling with a doll in her arms, walked up to me and presented it, CLEARLY expecting to exchange it for the stick!  We both started laughing and her Mum said that she was offering me her favourite doll in the hope that would convince me it was worth while!

And then we come to children with autism.  One of the biggest things I found with Johnathan was that he literally didn’t SEE things that weren’t in front of his face.  Normally babies tend to start crawling and moving towards things they actually want and that is what encourages them to GET moving.  However, if they literally don’t see a toy across the room that they want to play with, they need something else to focus on.  

Johnathan didn’t see things he didn’t expect and still doesn’t notice things today.  But that’s ok.  He is what he is and sees what he sees, but who knows how many things he can see in his brain that we never notice in the world around us?