Comments | asperger: Reading comprehension in people with ASD

fantomeq in asperger

Reading comprehension in people with ASD

Mar 10, 2013 09:08

I've been invited to do a talk about reading comprehension issues in autistic people here in Oregon. I don't have a lot of issues in this area, but other people I know have a huge problem with being overly literal and having trouble seeing the "big picture" and such. Just wanted to know if any of you had something to share on the topic, ( Read more... )

Comments 8

deelaundry March 11 2013, 14:02:18 UTC

One difficulty with reading comprehension for me is the question, "What is the main point of this piece?" Because in any given piece, there are a lot of points, and I'm not always plugged into the neurotypical zeitgeist as to which of those is the expected answer. It's gotten easier with 40 years of practice, but it was a challenge for me at the begining, and it's a huge challenge for my younger son ( ... )

satie_danser March 12 2013, 02:35:21 UTC

Well put.

I actually prefer abstract and nebulous concepts to the concrete foundation that NTs consider "basic, common knowledge." And I absolutely HATE being prompted. Multiple choice is the worst, because I can usually make a case for every single option!

I've always found it odd that NTs consider us black and white thinkers. If anything, that's our way of adapting to their unspoken rules and norms. But I digress.

shashigai March 12 2013, 12:05:45 UTC

We are accused of being black and white thinkers because in order to accommodate us they cannot change the rules. It's a fast moving social dance that favors the charismatic - they jockey for who's going to be the caller, and that person makes the rules until they are displaced. The context seems fairly stable, but within it looks like chaos to someone like me. I hardly learn the rules and then the caller changes. To make matters worse, there are sub-callers and improvisation within the dance.

I learned this analogy from watching variations on line dancing.

I had a partner who openly admitted that she changed the rules and said that's just what people do. At the time I did not know I was autistic. Her changing the rules all the time was one of the reasons I left her.

fantomeq March 12 2013, 14:30:03 UTC

I love this example. In this case he really was relating it to his own life, which is hard to do, but it wasn't expected for that test.

shashigai March 12 2013, 11:42:06 UTC

I think background details will make a difference so sorry for the long post ( ... )

fantomeq March 12 2013, 14:35:02 UTC

Lots of helpful info here, thank you. I have problem #2 as well. The odd way I deal with it is to open lots of different windows and switch back and forth so that the "too many words" are from differently written sources. Then if I filter out a bunch of each article, I've gotten the general idea all the other search results.

I love forms because they are often consistent. The only time I get thrown off is if they want an obscure piece of information. And then it's GAH! Why would these people expect me to have memorized this!

I love the way my subconscious does the work for me during fiction writing. It must be that easy for NTs to talk to other people due to the same stream-of-thought process.

shashigai March 12 2013, 14:43:47 UTC

Never thought about NT conversation in that way...I am willing to bet a lot of it is fictional, too.

Btw, I checked out your blog and downloaded a book (I was more interested in "The Damaged" but I couldn't get to the page) - hope that's OK. I like to know a bit about the person to whom I'm giving information.

fantomeq March 12 2013, 17:23:53 UTC

Thanks! I love to see people reading my books!
Here's the direct link to The Damaged.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/download-ebook.ep?guid=77FC8C15-CCB0-D79F-70EA-53A71E5E4212

I've got an autism group on Facebook called Kiley Quinn's Neurodiversity Page and started a new blog with not much on it yet that's neurodiver.blogspot.com.