07 Autism and Vision

>80-90% of kids on the spectrum can't move, look, and listen in a fast, accurate, effortless, sustainable-appropriate, and meaningful way. This results in high fear, high anxiety, high distractibility, and will leave your child in a perpetual state of fight or flight or your child will simply adapt and learn how to not pay attention. In this episode, Douglas W. Stephey, O.D., M.S provides information regarding children on the Autistic spectrum and how to effectively assess the visual system and provide solutions for them to move, look, and listen through their life with greater ease.

Douglas W. Stephey, O.D., M.S.

208 West Badillo St Covina, CA 91723

Phone: [phone]

Website: http://bit.ly/DouglasWStephey

Website Videos: http://bit.ly/DrStepheyOptometryVideos

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Transcription Below:

Tim Edwards: The Move Look and Listen Podcast with Dr. Doug Stephey is brought to you by audible. Get a free audio book download and a 30 day free trial audible membership www.audibletrial.com/inbound. You'll find over 180,000 titles to choose from, including several books mentioned here in the podcast. Support the Move Look & Listen Podcast by visiting www.audibletrial.com/inbound. 

Dr. Stephey: If our two eyes are not working together well as a fast synchronized team. Our internal mapquest continues to be off. It's consistently inconsistent with our ability to judge time and space. Those that don't feel well-grounded, those that have some measure of anxiety, oftentimes it starts in the visual system. If you can't move, look and listen in a fast, accurate, effortless, sustainable, age-appropriate, meaningful way, you're in a world of hurt. There's a whole world in vision and how it affects brain function that no one's ever shared with you. 20/20 is perceived as a holy grail of going to the eye doctor. Well, I'm here to change that paradigm. 

Tim Edwards: Hello and welcome to episode number seven of the Move Look & Listen pocast with Dr. Doug Stephey. I'm Tim Edwards with the Inbound Podcasting Network and a patient of Dr. Doug Stephey, who is an optometrist practicing in the southern California area. Now Dr. Stephey. Today's topic, I believe is going to be a gold nugget found by parents of children who happened to land somewhere on the autistic spectrum. Never have I heard how autism and vision are connected, but we're going to discuss that here today. 

Dr. Stephey: We're talking about autism and vision because about 80 percent of our brain's neurons are wrapped up in the processing of visual information. Remember, there's about 3 million sensory neurons that feed information to the brain, vision, auditory, taste, touch and smell. And of that 3 million fibers, there's about 30,000 auditory fibers per ear and roughly 1.2 million per eye. A staggering difference, and there's instances clinically. 

Dr. Stephey: What I've seen this happen in the office where vision has the capacity to change how you hear, vision has the capacity to change balance and gait and posture. Vision has the capacity to change the way your body feels, your feet on the floor. It changes a term called proprioception or the awareness of your body in space. I've had patients, kids and adults alike where I'll tell them, I'm going to take my index finger and lightly rub it along your forearm. And I want you to tell me how it feels. And if you're a touch sensitive in this manner, it just about freaks you out. It's like walking into a spiderweb when it gives you the heebie jeebies. Who hasn't done that? 

Tim Edwards: No. But it is fun to watch people do it. 

Dr. Stephey: It sends a shiver through your whole body. 

Tim Edwards: It's creepy. Yes. 

Dr. Stephey: So people in this manner don't like light touch. And so I'll lightly rub their forearm and I can, sometimes I can see them visually get the shutters. And or they'll get a screwed up look on their face where it's like, oh man, I real