Seeing or tasting sounds, hearing colours, being touched by sights… Alyosha was about 9 years old when he tried to account for a panic attack by saying: “I was scared. I saw a yellow ‘z-z-z’ sound.” This was confusing, until I realised he had synaesthesia. Synaesthesia (Greek syn – ‘together’ and aesthesis – ‘perception’) or ‘cross-sensory perception’ is an involuntary physical experience when the stimulation of one sensory modality triggers a perception in one or more diffe

- ‘Mum, on my way home from school I met a very nice lady. We chatted. She sent you her best wishes.’ - ‘But who was this nice lady?’ - ‘I don’t know, but she knows us all: she asked how we all were doing…’ - ‘Why didn’t you ask her name?’ ‘Oh, mum, it’s so embarrassing…' There is a neurological condition that, though not specific to autism, appears to be quite common in (at least, some) autistic individuals. It’s called prosopagnosia, or face blindness. People with this cond

During a science lesson, the teacher shows a picture of a plant and explains what different parts of the plant do. ‘The root holds the plant in the soil and takes in water; the petals attract insects…’ Johnny, a boy with autism, seems to stare at her and listen to the explanations. However, his attention at the moment is directed to the play of light on the teacher’s earring; the colour changes each time the teacher moves her head. A few days after the lesson, Johnny goes for

Heel-to-toe, here we go When my son started walking (at the age of 12 months), his posture and gait was very strange: Alex started walking on his tip-toes, and while walking (or running), my little ‘ballet-dancer’ didn’t swing his arms – his arms were dangling along his body. Not knowing much at the time, I tried to correct his idiosyncratic movements the way I could: Whenever and wherever we went, I was singing (while coordinating his arm-leg movement – his right leg stepp

“[After the assessment] I was surprised to learn that most of [the infantile reflexes] were still present and uninhibited in me at the age of almost thirty in spite of having learned to compensate for and cover them up. One which was still present was an infantile reflex that babies have to assist them in passing out of the womb! It was also found that I had different infantile reflexes present in different quarters of my body and that some were partially inhibited and some n

April is Autism Awareness Month. 30 years ago, parents of autistic children were doing their best to bring autism awareness 12 months a year and their aims and activities were very different from now. I think many people of my age have their stories to tell about it. This article was written after another lost battle (but not the war!) with the authorities and “chief specialists”. All my anger was poured out on the paper. November 1994 Almost Classics A MODEST PROPOSAL For pr

Why motor problems are a sign of ASD and how identifying them at a young age can lead to better results for the child.