Today the Asperger’s syndrome symptom I would like to talk about is concrete thinking. Children with Asperger’s syndrome process thoughts in a much different way than other children. They have trouble dealing with concepts in the abstract.
When you really think about it the English language must have been created by some crazy people. You can take one word and it can be spelled several ways, but pronounced the same/different all with different meanings. Words can even be spelled the same and have different meanings based on the context of the sentence it is used in. I read some where else the example of the word “bow”. This can be on top of a package, something to shoot an arrow with, the front of a ship, or something you do in front of a crowd. Then if you change the spelling to “bough” it is a tree branch. In the case of a person with Asperger’s syndrome this can be quite confusing. Typically they will take the first meaning of the word they have learned and then that’s it. They will not process through all the other meanings to come up with the right one. For this reason you need to be very mindful of your choice of words when speaking to a person with Asperger’s syndrome.
I work daily with a young adult with Asperger’s syndrome and find myself still rewording a lot. I use figures of speech all of the time, and I can just see the puzzled look spread across his face. My most recent mistake came during a storm when I stated that “It felt like hurricane force winds outside”. The fall out from this one simple statement was massive. Bottom line be direct and say exactly what you mean to say.
I would like to give you another more example of concrete thinking in Asperger’s syndrome. People with Asperger’s syndrome are logical almost to a fault. They see the steps that need to be performed to complete a task and eliminate any thing they deem a waste of time. The person that works for me that has Asperger’s was having problem’s cleaning the bathrooms. I could not get him to stop using the dust mop on the bathroom floors. I explained that if the dust mop got wet it would be ineffective and that it could not get the corners, but he would not stop using the dust mop. He would get very upset every time I told him he had to use the regular broom. Finally after this went on for over a week he blurted out that the small broom took longer than the dust mop. I then completely understood why he was so resistant. Then I just had to validate his point and reiterate mine. Then we could move on and we haven’t had a problem since.
Lastly persons with Asperger’s syndrome will fail to see the logic in things we do every day such a little white lies. This can lead to some very uncomfortable situations for you if you do not do a little pre-coaching if you know event may arise. These event may include anytime the child may be approaching a time in which they may be receiving a gift. If they do not like the gift they will most likely say so, and lead to some hurt feelings, unless you practice ahead of time. Another situation that may require some forethought would be when they are going to be around someone with an abnormality of some kind (obese, large mole, three arms…) they are almost sure to point it out.
The concrete thinking of the Asperger’s brain is “simply complex”. As long as you carefully plan your words and for see embarrassing situations you can greatly help your child with Asperger’s syndrome.