Autism. Part 4. Life is illusory and real: special symptoms in children with autism
An autistic child with a visual vector seems to be in captivity of some illusion, perceiving the outside world as a source of satisfaction of the primary needs in the visual vector. He examines various objects in his hands for a long time, fascinatedly watching the play of light and shadow, colors and tints. At the same time, the object itself and its functional purpose are of little interest to the child …
- Part 1. Causes of occurrence. Raising a child with autism
- Part 2. Motor stereotypes and excessive tactile sensitivity in a child with autism: reasons and recommendations for parents
- Part 3. Protest reactions and aggression of a child with autism: causes and methods of correction
- Part 5. Speech disorders in autistic children: systemic causes and methods of correction
- Part 6. The role of the family and environment in the upbringing of autistic children
In this article, we will talk about the combination of visual and sound vectors in a child with autism spectrum disorder. Autism as such is formed in the event of trauma in the sound vector, however, the additional presence of the visual vector in such a child causes the appearance of special symptoms in a child with autism. To thoroughly understand this combination, you should first consider how the development of the visual vector in a healthy baby occurs.
What is visual vector
The specific role of the human carrier of the visual vector is the day guard of the flock. That is why, by nature, he is given special vision, capable of distinguishing the subtlest shades of color and nuances of form. People with a visual vector are delighted to admire the masterpieces of painting, the setting, light, play of tones are of great importance for them.
In primitive society, the pack's day guard warned others of danger. Only his eyesight was able to distinguish a creeping predator at a great distance and, with his bright emotion of fear, signal the need to flee. This laid the foundation for the emergence of the first root emotion in people - the fear of death. From this point on, the human species becomes not only thinking, but also feeling. As a result of the evolutionary process, it is in people with a visual vector that this fear, brought out to the outside, has developed into its opposite: love and empathy for another.
A healthy person with a developed visual vector is capable of empathy and unconditional love. The child, developing without disruption, learns to establish such emotional connections gradually. First with your favorite toy (non-living), then with animals, and later with people. But the primary and basic emotional connection is laid in the child with the mother, and later with the father. Without an emotional connection with parents and an insufficient sense of security and safety, the child's normal development is disrupted.
Development of the visual vector in an autistic child
Autistic is a child who has been injured in the sound vector. As a result, he fenced off from the outside world, ceases to perceive information coming from outside. At the same time, the development of the other vectors of the child is also inevitably disturbed, since the sound vector is dominant, and its bad conditions affect the development of all other vectors.
An autistic child with a visual vector seems to be in captivity of some illusion, perceiving the outside world as a source of satisfaction of the primary needs in the visual vector. He examines various objects in his hands for a long time, fascinatedly watching the play of light and shadow, colors and tints. At the same time, the object itself and its functional purpose are of little interest to the child.
Sometimes he brings objects too close to his eyes, watches for hours the rotation of the wheels of the machine (especially in light), but does not use the toy for its intended purpose. Such children can be especially fascinated by a mirror, into which they look for a long time, being interested not in their own reflection, but in the spectacle of the looking-glass corridors.
In infancy, the parents of such a child note that the child's smile was like "unearthly", "radiant". And indeed it is. The only trouble is that it is not addressed to a person at all, but is directed towards an inanimate object and arises as a reaction to basic visual impressions (light, shadow, overflow of shades). But the reaction of emotional infection from a smile or laughter of an adult does not arise.
The gaze of such a child is often focused on a spot of light, a pattern of wallpaper or carpet, an area of a shiny surface, and flickering shadows. The child is fascinated by the flickering of the pages of the book, gets pleasure from the change of visual sensations (opening and closing the door, turning on and off the light.
Hands are of particular interest to them. Such a child experiences a delay at the stage of looking at his hands, turning his fingers over his face, later he begins to examine and touch his mother's fingers.
Due to the special abilities given by the visual vector, such a child begins to distinguish colors quite early, draw stereotyped ornaments. In spite of autism, he also has an unusual, special visual memory - he remembers routes, the location of symbols on a sheet or disk, he orients himself early in geographical maps. Easily groups toys by color, size and shape. The main trouble is that the child's interest continues to prevail precisely in the shape, size and color of the object, and not at all to the image as a whole, and not to the functional purpose of the thing he takes in his hands.
Emotional connections in an autistic child with a visual vector also develop defectively. Often he has multiple fears (birds, animals, insects, even snow or poplar fluff). Often there are night fears with screaming and crying upon awakening; in general, such children experience fear of the dark for a long period. At an early age, such phenomena are normal for a healthy baby with a visual vector, but in a child with autism, this reaction can be fixed for many years. Sometimes the child also experiences a fear of changes in the intensity of light or objects of a particular color or shape.
In the emotions of such children, tension, tearfulness, and quick emotional satiety usually prevail. There are hysterical reactions to failure and disapproval of loved ones. Qualitative emotional connections with family members and others do not add up.
Eye contact with parents and other people is impaired in the vast majority of children with autism. But if an autistic child is the owner of a visual vector, on the contrary, he may develop an obsessive desire to look into the eyes on his own initiative. Nevertheless, when such contact is initiated not by himself, but by another person, the autistic child still tends to evade it.
Correction methods
According to the SVP, in working with such a child, a basic understanding of the psychological causes of the problem and providing him with a sense of security and safety, comfortable living conditions, first of all, comfortable for the sound vector, and secondly, for other vectors of the child, is primary.
A child with a visual vector cannot be completely deprived of those activities that give him such pleasure. In fact, playing with light, color, size and shape really helps such a child fulfill the basic needs of the visual vector. But you can and should help the child to give meaning to such activities.
Perhaps he will be carried away by shadow theater. You can learn several exercises from finger gymnastics and give the child the opportunity to observe the shadows from their own hands in various configurations. Surely such a child will enjoy a kaleidoscope, a mosaic, various kinds of sorters. You can play sun bunnies together, or come up with any other funny game with light and shadow. Perhaps he will be carried away by pouring sand or pouring water from container to container. Thus, it is necessary to provide the child with a sufficient amount of visual sensations precisely in the game process.
However, when in contact with the functional world, one should not give the child the opportunity to explore it in the same way, fragmentarily. As early as possible, draw the child's attention to the functional purpose of the object, teach him to use his hands not for manipulative play, but for meaningful actions. Pick up a cup to drink. Put on your own shoes, hold a spoon.
Developing emotional connections
You can often hear about the effectiveness of dolphin therapy, kinesitherapy and other types of therapy with animals in the correction of autism. This is understandable and understandable. As mentioned earlier, the child first establishes an emotional connection with an inanimate toy (in an autistic child, this period can be replaced by manipulative actions in order to extract pleasant sensations). Then he learns to establish a connection with animals, and only then - with other people. From this point of view, indeed, such an intermediate stage as communication with animals can become a kind of connecting thread for the subsequent more successful development of communication skills among people.
However, the very first and important milestone in the development of emotional ties is rarely mentioned and comprehended - the connection with parents, especially with the child's mother. And without it, creating the rest of the emotional connections healthy is not possible.
Most often, it is this connection that is broken in children with autism. And this is especially true for a child with a visual vector, because the creation of emotional connections is a key moment in his development.
To help restore the broken emotional connection with your mother, you can recommend various games and nursery rhymes for emotional contamination at an early age. There are many texts of such nursery rhymes, especially Russian folk art is rich in them. The purpose of the lessons is to achieve the emergence of an emotional response to the smile and actions of an adult.
Another seemingly simple but very important recommendation is to seek attention and eye contact with the child. It is best to do this by taking the child by both hands and finding his gaze with your gaze - to draw attention to the required action.
When the child already demonstrates at least a small response to emotions, you can curl up together, portraying some animals, in order to again achieve a reciprocal smile.
For a sound-visual autistic child of an older age, books will be a good help (people with a visual vector are generally one of the most readable). Reading or drawing together with parents will allow the child not only to feel the pleasure of these activities themselves, but also to strengthen emotional ties with loved ones. Understanding the characteristics of each vector of the child, it will not be difficult to find activities that can awaken his interest and use his strengths (innate properties). Thus, the knowledge of Yuri Burlan's System-Vector Psychology will help to maximize the capabilities that your child has. Find out more in the introductory lectures online. You can register and receive an invitation by following this link.
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