Aspergers and literalism

[nikos]

You do have to laugh sometimes
Ds said something to me in an aggressive way.
'Don't shout' I said calmly.
'I'm not shouting, I'm screaming.' he says with all the indignation a 3 year old can muster.
Then yesterday.
Me: What do sheep say?
Ds: Sheep don't speak.
Fairy nuff

Anyone else?

DS (despite his vocab being a bit limited) also does this:-

"Come on Lazybones!"

resulting in an indignant "I'm not Lazybones, I'm Steven".

and general other pedantry. I always tell DH that DS takes after him in the pedantry stakes!

I have come across this a few times while teaching

another teacher said to the class, 'If I had a five pound for evey time I've been asked that I wouldn't need to work'

Child with ASD, 'But who would give you the £5 miss?'

I think the all time classic for us was when dd was in full hyper mode. So I said to her "you are full of beans today". Dd runs up to mirror, opens her mouth, has a good look and says to me all puzzled "no i am not"

I remember ChocolateTeapot's DD asking mine how many stones she weighed.

DD looked back very seriously and replied "I haven't eated any stones"

flame ~ i am hardly ever on mn anymore. how are things with your dd?

DS used to roar with rage when anyone asked 'Have you hurt yourself?' when he tumbled or anything.

I was just thinking that I hadn't seen you about much lately

Good here - paed appointment was a bit of a waste of time, he told me that she wasn't autistic (I never suggested she was I said AS tendencies), and that they can't tell AS until about 6-7yrs when they have a better grasp of language.

So.... we are now just in a place where she is who she is. We know how best to deal with her. We have stopped thinking along the lines that we have to treat her the same as the others because that is what is "fair" because it isn't - we treat her how she needs to be treated. She has good teachers who know they need to tell her things before they happen. We're dealing with moods etc by verbalising feelings as they are happening ("I am feeling slightly cross" etc rather than letting it build up and then exploding at each other). Pretty much just in acceptance. She may have AS, she may just be a bit quirky, but she is her and that is all that matters

I dont come on much anymore. Mn has changed loads the past year or so.....
Anyway yes I agree with the 6/7 thing as that's when my dd was dx, just before her 7th birthday. We had loads of "pros" tell us she wasn't on the spectrum, but I knew deep down she was. For me knowing was better than not but like you I treated her like she was way before that.
If ever you need a chat I am here

DS1's initial SALT assessment (he has SPD as part of his DX) was hilarity itself.

SALT: 'what do you like to eat?'

DS1: I prefer to eat cheese and pickle sandwiches

(NB: ds1 allergic to cheese and has never in my knowledge had one.....)

SALT: 'I like cheese and onion, do you?'

DS1: 'I am not interested in onions, therefore I do not think I would be interested ina cheese and onkion sandwich'

J (9 with AS) isn't literal, he's just plain pedantic. I do think there's a difference that needs to be recognised. When a child is literal they are very serious in their interpretation and often get upset or confused by a comment they've taken literally when it's meant in a different or metaphoric way. When J reacts to an ambiguity he's usually taking the pee, frankly.

Eg, he's got a thing about mirrors and reflections, they set him off when he's getting over-excited, so I'll say to him "The mirror is making you unsettled, move away from it so you can start to calm down", meaning remove yourself so you can't see yourself in it. But he'll quite deliberately take three paces back from it, often laughing or smiling while doing so, and continue gurning at himself. He's not misunderstanding an ambiguous instruction, he's being deliberately bloody-minded and enjoying every second of it.

I took my three to the park last week. Ds1 (7yrs) climbed on to the toy train and said he was going on a journey. I said "Okay, as long as you give me a ring when you get there so I know you're okay."

Two minutes later ds1 reappears and pretends to put something in my hand.

Me: "What's that?"

Ds1: "It's the ring you said you wanted."

this is one of the things I have always noticed about my ds..for example..he doesnt interpret phrases such as "youve got ants in your pants"in the way its meant..If that makes any sense

Ds1 has recently learnt that his name actually relates to him. IE, if this makes sense, he now seems to know that it's not just a noise that he responds to, it connects to his person.
Earlier today I asked him:
"Are you ready for school?"
to which he replies:

"I TOM!!!"

Actually we ahd tjhis iwth ds1 today- Dh was getting V annoyed as ds1 wouldn't clen up under the table properly; after several attempts I pointed out that Dh ahdn't actually 6asked^ him to clean up under the chairs as well- which were pushed under the table. Sure 4enough guess which bits were clean.....

Teacher asked all the class to pick up bits off the classroom floor; then told off DS for messing with bits on the hall floor during assembly! He very indignantly told LSA "Well; she didn't say it wasn't a generalised instruction!" Poor teacher!

One night when my ds had a good nights sleep i said to hime in the morning:
'you slept like a log last night'
to which its reply was:
'i didnt know pieces of wood slept mum'
priceless