Photographic memory, Autism.

[Marne]

Dd2(4) has amazed me in the past few weeks with her memory. She enjoys playing with her magnetic letters and up until now just arranges them in order of the alphabet, she has now started spelling out words from memory (not just small words, im talking 10+ letters). She has spelt out all her favorite TV shows such as Waybuloo, alphablocks and olivia, she doesn't copy them straight from the tv (she's doing it when the tv is not on so its from memory). Last night she spelt out 'Vale coaches' which is what is written on the bus that picks up at dd1's school (dd2 has always had a thing about the school bus, at the moment she hates the bus and covers her face when she see's it). She has also memorissed phone numbers from tv adds and web site addresses.

Does anyone elses ASD child do this?

Hi Marne, yes ds has a very good visual memory for anything non verbal. He was able to do 500 piece jigsaw puzzles without looking at the picture on the box from a very young age.

If you ask him verbally to remember anything, thats a whole different story though!

sounds about right. visual yes verbally noooo

claw- dd2 used to love jigsaw puzzles and often did them picture side down .

Its just shocking that she can remember that many letters and still remember them hours/days latter.

If i tell her to put her shoes on she will have forgot within a few seconds .

Marne, i remember reading somewhere (not sure how true it is) that ASD children think in pictures, as oppose to words,hence the good visual memory.

EP wrote in her report that a good visual memory, is you use systematic scanning, rather than memory hooks ie i will remember it looks like a rocket. It indicates that simultaneous processing skills are highly developed and they can see things as a whole (ie the ability to see the big picture) hence photographic memory.

The contrast between visual and verbal is quite amazing isnt it!

That's just what DS1 was like form a very young age! When he was 3 or 4, he'd get home from nursery and make car numberplates he'd seen with his building blocks! He'd also write urls he'd remembered from adverts on his megasketcher or at the bottom of pictures he'd drawn.

It just shows how amazing the Autistic brain is, i just hope she can learn to make use of the skills she has.

Yes ds is better than any sat nav and has been able to direct us on journeys from being 3 years old
Before he could speak he would click his tongue to let you know you needed to indicate and turn his head so you knew left or right.
It used to be nightmare though if there was a diversion because he would attack the driver for going the wrong way.
He first started spelling words at two, his first ones were Oracle and Ceefax and he learnt to read and spell from the text on the tv.
It's a great skill to have.

Dd2 now knows the way to MacDonalds .

She has started to write (most letters backwards) but does greater thing with the magnetic letters. She started doing the alphabet just before she was 2. I wish i had a camcorder so i could record it to show her when she's older.

Ds2 (7) has a very visual memory. When he draws pictures of something he's seen he is able to include even the tiniest details in his picture. When he watches a video clip just once, he can still remember it all a couple of years later.

Ds1 (9) is a walking encyclopedia because he can remember pretty much everything he's ever read. When he's older he could probably make a small fortune on quiz shows.

My theory is that they leeched all my memory cells when I was pregnant. My own memory is truly awful these days.

DS1 remembers the house we lived in and everywhere we went when we lived in London. He uses google street maps to walk to the swimming pool (the tells me 'nee neen', he remembers buidings I don't remember at all.

We left London 8 years ago when he was 2. He remembers it all.

I had no idea until he learned to use google maps.

Now he leads me around the local area pointing out streetlamps which are 'broken' (and he's always right).

He's also been wondering around Balamory on google streetmaps and found Miss Hooleys house even though it's a different colour and on a different street (I had no idea whose house it was - didn't even recognise it- he spotted it right away).

He has severe learning disabilities and is non-verbal. There is so much going on in there that we have no access to.

My Dd1 was like this, when she was little she could beat anyone at pairs and she continued to hone her skills, by teenage she could remember 16 digit credit card numbers!! she still can so watch out for these little sweeties cause they can have a great time with some knowledge.

My youngest tells me all the time that I am going the wrong way if I dare to vary my route. I suspect that they are both on the autistic spectrum although neither is diagnosed.