Not being very aware of surroundings.

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Just wondering how common this is among Aspie kids. My 8yr old daughter isn't always aware of (or not paying attention to) her surroundings. I find myself, especially in public, having to grab her to stop her from running into people or things. She does it at home as well, but not as much. Do your kids do this as well?

That's interesting. I never thought about it, but my wife and daughter grew up in the suburbs, on quiet streets with little traffic and both are sloppy about looking before crossing the street. Son-in-law & I both grew up in NYC and check religiously before stepping off the curb, so it may be from training and necessity. Our grandson is 4 1/2 and is just starting to become aware of the street.

So far as walking into stuff, I remember that I learned to look out before entering school. Our daughter got the message after catching a door in the face at around 6 yo. We tried to warn her and get her to pay attention, but nothing seemed to work until the door incident. GS does walk into tables, etc. when involved in intense concentration, but if there's some connection with being 6, we have another year + to find out. Could be the resolution of a developmental delay at 6 or just a coincidence.

btw - all of the adults are AS, GS is HFA.

My is rarely aware of anything beyond what he is choosing to focus on. Not only is he not aware of his surroundings, half the time he isn't aware of what he is touching or physically doing.

You learn to compensate, and you teach them systems for monitoring themselves when it is most important to do so. Many, many reminders, too.

My son is like this as well; I often still hold his hand to cross the street at 10 years old (though it is getting somewhat better, I don't have to do this every time)

What are the systems to teach him to be aware of surroundings?

My daughter is the same way. We started some social stories about safety and have tried to branch out from there. Typically it is something that will need to be practiced as a routine and then re-enforced. It really depends on where their learning is at. That's the anecdotal thinking that I see a lot with my child and others.

I am always having to tell my 5 yo son to "pay attention" and constantly reminding him to watch where he is going.
My son just takes a lot of repetition to really get the idea of something, so I am always keeping my eye on him. One of my son's special interests is cars. I am afraid that if he sees one he likes that he will just take off running for it without any concern for what will happen to him. I am always trying to explain to him that when he sees a moving car, he needs to stay away from it or he could get really hurt.

My son still wants to touch everything too. He is fascinated with the stove and is always asking if the stove is hot. I can't believe he has never stuck his hand in the flames when we are cooking on the stove. He also wants to pet the cat in ways that could be irritating to her (her face, her tail) No matter how many times we tell him that he may be upsetting her, he doesn't seem to get it.

I think overall, maybe AS kids don't have a natural sense of fear----unless something happens to them directly, they just don't get it. I remember too when my son was about 2, he would just walk right in front of other kids while they were swinging. I was always on top of him, so I made sure he got out of the way.

Part of me wonders that if I am so overprotective of him, that he just won't learn, but I definitely don't want to just let him go and let these things happen to him. So I think the best thing is to just keep doing my best to explain things to him. He is an only child, so I can probably watch him better than some parents that have multiple children. I guess sooner or later, something will happen to him, and he will learn.

I've actually had a rather different experience with my son (now 10). He is very aware of his surroundings and actually could tell me how to get home from a restaurant (two towns away), with exact detailed turn-by-turn instructions since he was about 5 years old. (My older son, 8 at the time, could not even come close to getting us home....no sense of direction at all!)

Regarding crossing the street, etc., of course I drilled it into all three of my kids to look both ways, etc. He had a scare a few years back (when he didn't pay attention) and since then has been super vigilent. My Aspie is the most responsible of my three kids, although he is the middle child!

Joanne

Goodness yes, both of my children (each diagnosed with ASD and SPD) do this. I think it is because of their sensory filters. While most people can disregard environmental stimuli that is irrelevant to them, many children with ASD and sensory issues cannot. They are bombarded literally with every sound, every movement, every bit of visual input, and things you might never even realize. I'm actually surprised they handle all of it as well as they do.

My 10 yr old diagnosed PDD-NOS is hardly ever aware of his surroundings. Whether we are in the house or in public, he just isn't very aware. At the store, he walks right into people, stands in the way of people, doesn't see cars moving in the parking lot, etc... At home, alarms can be going off, stuff beeping, dog barking, brother crying and screaming, etc... he doesn't notice. He does notice stuff when we are in a small enclosed place such as the car, then every whimper out of his brother drives him crazy. Also, times when his anxiety is high, such as right when he gets home from school, he notices every little thing. Being unaware of surroundings is one of the major symptoms.

Sounds like this is pretty common, then. Mine will bump into people and objects in the store, not look for cars when walking through parking lots, etc She's not good at judging where she is in relation to other things so she's constantly almost knocking or succeeding in knocking something over. She's bad about banging into door jambs especially when she turns around to move or something and didn't realize she was so close to the door, lol. She gets on the couch and likes the coffee table pushed close so she can reach the remotes and her drink/snack easier and then she gets to squirming around the place and bumps and knocks things off the table.

Sometimes she likes to help clean and I have put an end to her trying to sweep or mop because she doesn't pay attention to BOTH ends of the broom/mop and she knocks things off everywhere and bumps into the walls, etc Too dangerous, lol. I let her vacuum and wipe down things instead. She did at one point have a kid sized broom and dust pan but she didn't want to use the "kid" one.

She's far sighted. I think she pays attention to the bottom of the mop/broom but forgets about the other end that ends up swinging around the place wildly, lol. But I guess her eyesight pre-glasses could have been an issue.

My son is also farsighted. His is pretty bad. I can't remember his exact prescription but it is +7.25 / +6.25. His eye glasses help very much but he has very poor peripheral vision in his right eye. I am taking him to a specialist that does eye therapy and specializes in children with disabilities such as ASD and SPD. The doctor is WONDERFUL! He completely understands my son's limitiations w/ the sensory issues - didn't even have to explain it - he automatically understood not to let things touch his face during testing, not to make him do certain tests, etc...

The doc believes that many of my son's sensory issues will be improved with vision therapy. I do think things like this, in our case, are a combination of vision, SPD and PDD. Just because he wears glasses does not mean 'problem solved!' as I thought it did. He still have poor peripheral, poor eye coordination, poor eye muscles, poor control over his eyes.