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Aspergers and Bumping into Things.

I'm constantly bumping into things and I often have scrapes and bumps and bruises on my body but can't remember how they got there. It's the same for my kids and it's all to do with spatial awareness.

Spatial awareness, which is often also referred to as motor clumsiness is the ability to think about a figure, usually your own body, in three dimensions. 

Specifically it's about doing the mental calculations required to move your body through spaces without hitting other objects (unless you're hitting them on purpose, as in bat and ball games).  It's not always about your body though because sometimes it's about other moving objects, like catching a ball for instance, or "extended parts" of your body, such as  when moving furniture from one room to another without bumping into walls.

A lack of spacial awareness isn't one on of the defining criteria for autism and indeed I've seen some children on the spectrum with amazing ball control skills.  It is however one of the more common problems I've seen.

Testing for Spacial Awareness Problems
Obviously the easiest of the tests for spacial awareness is to throw a ball to your child and see whether or not he or she can catch it, more than once. In fact, ten times in a row is a good test.  Note that you're throwing the ball to them, not trying to make it difficult to catch.

Ball skills can be learned though, with practice and once your child has mastered these, it doesn't follow that their spacial awareness problems are "fixed", it simply means that they have better ball skills.

Another test is to test your child's ability to make their way through a maze.  Of course, mazes aren't easy to come by (except on paper) so unless you live near one, it's unlikely to be a test you can complete.

There's an online test here which I found very difficult and in which I only scored average. It could account for my poor spatial awareness.  I don't have enough information to say whether it's a good test or not but it is similar to other spatial tests I've seen. I would expect this test to be far too difficult for children.

Improving Spatial Awareness
Your spatial awareness isn't a static skill and even though it's common for people with aspergers to be a little "behind" it's something that can be improved on with a little effort. The best way to improve this skill is to use it. For children, this means getting off the computer and using this skill in real life.

Obstacle courses are a good starting point and you don't have to join the army to use one.  You'll find obstacle courses at scout centers and camp sites and of course, if you're savvy, you can make one yourself. Other things that can help to improve spatial awareness are things like climbing and body awareness sports like Karate.

If nothing else, improving your spatial awareness could save you a few bruises in the future.





Comments

Foursons said…
My son is an amazing baseball player (He makes the All-Star team every year) but can't walk through the house without running into a door, wall, fireplace, chair, etc. He gets so frustrated, but now I can help him to understand. Just the knowledge that there is a reason will make him feel better.
Anonymous said…
I had a look at the test and I doubt it's accuracy ... the general impression I got from it was it was a hook to induce people to pay for another test ... etc - that and to farm data that they could sell to others
Anonymous said…
Please delete that test link. I'm a high IQ 3d modeler and the test is horribly wrong, it's not you.
For instance, the Y shape has no right answer. The "I don't know" should read "None of the above." I continued through anyway, wondering if the I don't know was the correct answer on half of them, and it's not. You can get the 'result' anonymously but it'll be wrong.
Armando Cardona said…
I was diagnosed as an Aspie in middle age (I had just turned 50) by a psychiatrist friend who took the necessary time to REALLY analyze my traits and to document my history correctly even though the signs were there from an early age. Perhaps the fact that I was born in 1961 and autism wasn't as well understood back then also played a role in my late diagnosis.

Concerning spatial awareness, I must confess that I have NEVER been able to dribble a basketball and walk (much less RUN) at the same time, no matter how many hours I've practiced, which was a source of constant embarrassment and bullying in my youth and is the reason I turned to baseball rather than basketball. For some unfathomable reason, I'm a very decent batter even though I can't dribble at all. Go figure.
Armando Cardona said…
I was diagnosed as an Aspie very late in life (I had just turned 53) by a psychiatrist friend who FINALLY took the time to really analyze my traits and do a complete life history even though the signs were there from a very early age. Perhaps the fact that I was born in 1961 and autism wasn't as well understood back then had something to do with my late diagnosis (my parents did take me to various psychiatrists but they all focused on my precociously formal speech patterns and my photographic memory).

Concerning spatial awareness and motor coordination, I must confess that I have NEVER been able to dribble a basketball and walk (much less run) at the same time, which was a constant source of embarrassment and bullying when I was growing up and completely soured me on basketball and made me turn to baseball instead (I'm a pretty decent batter regardless of my Asperger's, go figure).

My beef with basketball left such deep scars that to this day I can't even watch a basketball game, college or pro, on TV.

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