AnnieO, I'm glad Pat did mostly well and is not autistic, but I want to tell you that auditory and visual discrimination and processing problems also have challenges that I still face today. With auditory, which I didn't understand until recently (as it was not really studied much until now) somebody with perfectly good hearing can perhaps not understand directions given to him. I have this happen all the time so I do things wrong, but it's not on purpose and don't let any teacher tell you he is being defiant if this happens. He needs clear, one-step directions...and he may need a one-on-one rather than classroom approach when given something to do, especially if it is more than one step.
I do not know if Pat has visual processing problems as well. I have both. Visual is another ballgame...you can have a can of soda in front of you and start running around the house asking where your soda went. Your eyes can see it, but your brain is not processing it is there, ESPECIALLY if there is a lot of other stuff in the background around the soda. This is something else I struggle with. I am always losing things because I forget where I put them too and this also is not deliberate or defiance, but part of the disability, if indeed he has it. Color discrimination can be difficult, even if the child is not color blind. This just means that a faded red and an orange may look like they are both orange to him as the visual discrimination is not optimal. Also, one can have such a poor visual memory that getting around town, remembering faces, remembering what objects look like, even remembering what your own house looks like when you are not staring at it can be a challenge. I have all of that. I am praying that Pat does not.
I am glad you are getting him straightened out. He seems like a fine young man and a good brother to his darling sissy.
