Our son Alex is a very logical thinker. His brain doesn’t realize abstract thought and, interestingly enough, he’s very artistic. Sound contradicting, it may seem so, but it’s not and here’s why. Let’s use this example: If I were to tell Alex that a car had marshmallow wheels, he would literally believe it had marshmallow wheels, his logic would take over and realize this is silly, and he would reject this idea. Though after careful consideration (and his active imagination) he begins to explain how the car would not be able to have marshmallow wheels, though it would be “cool” if it did. As far as his artistic side, partly because of his low tone and the logic behind creation, Alex can focus for long periods of time on drawing, painting, and even reading fictional books (if he’s actually interested in the book). His body “searches” for contact constantly to remind his brain that his muscles are actually functional. Which suggests his fidgeting is a direct relation to whatever developmental delay his brain may have.
The concept of time for Alex also eludes him. He cannot discern the difference between 5 minutes and 30 minutes (though time is merely a measuring tool but we’ll get into that later in another post…). The interesting thing is that Alex’s developmental doctor pointed this out to us. I hadn’t really noticed it before. I merely chalked his logic up to being overly literal (as his older brother does to be sarcastic). Though without careful study Alex seems like he’s being sarcastic, he’s actually being very logical. His older brother on the other hand, is in fact being a smart donkey (Alex would appreciate this, donkey=ass and he prefers that expression lol).
Alex also has a hard time with changing a fact he’s already learned. If he’s seen a result with his own eyes (and his own perception leads him to believe it’s true) he’ll hold on to this idea very rigidly for a long period of time. As a hypothetical and completely ridiculous example, if Alex believed that the moon were made of cheese and he were given data to support it, he would absolutely take it as fact. As a matter of fact, when I joke with him seriously and say something like (and I have said this), “The red color that candy companies use is actually made from monkey brains”, he’ll immediately dismiss this as false. If I keep persuading him into this “fact” he’ll start to question his logic. He has to process “how this could be possible” and convincingly say out loud “that’s not true, you just made that up”. Almost as an attempt at a reassurance on my part, as if he’s waiting for me to stop joking. If I were to keep at it, he would actually believe me, which is intriguing.
Again Alex is very intelligent, he just lacks a sense of abstract thought. This can be very exhausting when trying to have a conversation that has any form of abstract in it, including a sarcastic joke. Alex doesn’t understand sarcasm as it is, he just uses his logic to realize you’re being sarcastic. This only works some of the time, and most often we find ourselves explaining what we meant by our sarcasm. By the way it should be mentioned that we’re not sarcastic a rude way, just in a fun loving way.
-Ray
Tags: abstract concepts, abstract thought, ADHD, birth injury, Learning disability, listening, occupational therapy, physical therapy, Special Needs, speech therapy