Hi, my son is 11 years old, and was seen by an educational psychologist Dec 2009 because of his behaviour at school. In September 2009 my son started a new school, because his last school were going to exclude him.
My son has a moderate hearing loss in both ears, and is supposed to wear his hearing aids on a daily basis. However, when wearing the hearing aids hes gets overloaded with noise and destroys his aids.
When seen by the psychologist there was a concern that my son could have aspergers syndrome. Nearly 2 years on, we still have no official diagnosis. CAMHS have been involved and did the ADI-R with me, and came to the conclusion that because my son developed within normal limits, but shows autistic traits in the communication and social sections, he doesnt have any form of autism.
I know theres something wrong with him, at the present time he is not attending school as he cannot cope with it. When i try to get him to go, i get punched and kicked, but educational welfare aren't listening and are going to fine me.
He was seen by an autism specialist who went into school to observe him for 2x30 mins sessions, and she said he has no signs, because he was using eye contact. I think what they havent thought about is that with my son having a hearing problem, that he lip reads!!
My son got a statement for 20 hours a week 1-1 or small group sessions, but has not accessed this because of the none attendence at school. His statement review has gone through and is now not being reviewed till May 2012, which means he will have been in a mainstream high school for nearly a year before they review it. Another educational psychologist and the high school have raised concerns about the transition to high school and think that my son will not be able to cope with the constant moving from classroom to classroom, and having 13 different teachers a week, so they have wrote letters to the LEA to see about provision for him at a special school.
So at the moment i don't know who or what to believe. The DISCO assessment was mentioned by the original psychologist, but the psychologist i saw last week said it wont be done because the ADI-R has been completed.....feel like screaming!
In a higher education support context I've come across deaf and blind students with aspergers. I suspect it is something that gets missed because the deafness or blindness symptoms are considered the usual explanation for behaviours. I wonder if there has been any research on this.
I also think research is needed (unless someone knows of some already) into how to gauge eye contact.
I'm often told I have good eye contact. I cannot fathom this myself as I find eye contact unsettling and unhelpful. As you say in respect of your son, I look at peoples mouths. I cannot think why - it isn't always pretty, I cannot lip read, it serves no possible benefit, it just has become what happens (unless there's something else drawing on my attention). However I have become a good actor in formal situations.
When I was younger I talked looking downwards (into my tie as my parents put it).
I wonder whether health consultants go only by the diagnosis of a marked avoidance of eye contact. How do you tell whether someone is looking at the eyes or just part of the face?
I had a lecturer many years ago who other students complained, when talking to him, that they always perceived that he was looking at their throats, and they thought he might be a vampire. I couldn't detect this myself. Perhaps he was looking at people's throats because he found looking them in the eye uncomfortable.
In a higher education support context I've come across deaf and blind students with aspergers. I suspect it is something that gets missed because the deafness or blindness symptoms are considered the usual explanation for behaviours. I wonder if there has been any research on this.
I also think research is needed (unless someone knows of some already) into how to gauge eye contact.
I'm often told I have good eye contact. I cannot fathom this myself as I find eye contact unsettling and unhelpful. As you say in respect of your son, I look at peoples mouths. I cannot think why - it isn't always pretty, I cannot lip read, it serves no possible benefit, it just has become what happens (unless there's something else drawing on my attention). However I have become a good actor in formal situations.
When I was younger I talked looking downwards (into my tie as my parents put it).
I wonder whether health consultants go only by the diagnosis of a marked avoidance of eye contact. How do you tell whether someone is looking at the eyes or just part of the face?
I had a lecturer many years ago who other students complained, when talking to him, that they always perceived that he was looking at their throats, and they thought he might be a vampire. I couldn't detect this myself. Perhaps he was looking at people's throats because he found looking them in the eye uncomfortable.
