Aspergers and ‘hearing dyslexia’

April 21, 2008 — xanthippa

This is another one of my very personal looks at living with Aspergers – both as an Aspie, and as a parent of Aspie kids.  While doctors and psychologists can tell us a lot about Asperger Syndrome, it seems to affect different people differently – even siblings can have incredibly different ways in which they are affected.  Not only does each person’s underlying personality determine the best (and worst) ways of handling it, there are often many physiological conditions which occur along with it and affect the skill-set available to be drawn upon.

One of the conditions that often occurs along with Aspergers and/or ADD is dyslexia – I know that when I was learning to read and write, I had a lot of trouble with it (and, to a very small degree, I still do).  What surprised me, however, was that just like people with dyslexia see letters either reversed, or in the wrong order, some people hear sounds ‘jumbled up’ in much the same way!  The technical term for this is Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), but I find it easier to think of it as ‘sound dyslexia’ or ‘hearing dyslexia’.  Apparently, this condition is not easy to test for, and many doctors do not even think of testing for it….yet it can have very major impact on the development of a child learning language for the very first time – whether neurotypical or Aspergers or Autistic.

Just like people with dyslexia can see letters reversed, or in the wrong order, people with APD can hear sound within words ‘reversed’, or lasting the wrong length of time so several sounds become superimposed over top of each other and very, very difficult to ‘separate out’ and understand….especially when one is just learning that different sequences of sounds can actually carry different meanings. 

Please, imagine that you have this – not correctible by a hearing aid, because the problem is not mechanical, but by the way sound is processed in the brain.  Because you cannot effectively (or reliably – the problem is notoriously intermittent) differentiate between words or phrases, it is very difficult to ‘catalogue’ or ‘make sense of’ sounds and their associated meanings.  Now add to it the Aspies’ inability to comprehend facial expressions, tone of voice or body language.  Frankly, I do not know how these young children can make any sense of the world about them at all!

How to overcome this?

One has to work within the child’s interests and strengths.  It is my hope that sharing what worked for our younger son may help you develop strategies which may work for yours.

When our younger son had problems learning to speak, it did not look to us like a problem.  Instead, it looked as a willful behaviour:  we were told he was refusing to use language in order to manipulate us, the parents.  It was a call for attention, we were told. 

But, that just did not ring true to me.  While we would read him every evening, and while he had our full focus and attention, he would still be unable to follow even the sipmlest stories.  He loved counting picture books with a number and that ‘count’ of objects.  That he could follow, and would lift the correct number of fingers – even try to say the numbers.  Sometimes, he even liked ‘word’ books – ones that showed a picture of an object and had the word for it written beneath the object.

But the moment we tried to read him even very simple stories, we lost him.  He would fidget, climb, jump, and generally do anything to demonstrate his complete lack of interest.  Thinking he wanted more of the attention focused on him (as we were told this was attention-getting behaviour), I would start telling him stories.  This way, there was no book and he was my sole focus.  Same reaction.

Eventually, he got interested – but on a very different level.  Accepting the ‘book routine’, he started picking out letters, one at a time.  The joy on his face as he would yell over top of my voice (as I was reading):  “A!!!  A!!!  A!!!”  I would confirm that yes, that was indeed ‘A’, and tell him how clever he was to have recognized it.

He’s settle down and look interested.  But he was not interested in the story.  No, because I would barely read another paragraph when he woud get excited again:  “D!!! D!!! D!!!”  Again, I would praise him, and try to resume reading.  But, it was not a ‘relaxing time’ that would get one ready for bedtime…

Eventually, I gave up reading him stories and broke out the ‘Alphabet books’.  I had thought he was too young for them, but if he loved reading the letters, I whas happy to oblige him.  For the first time, he was making ‘human’ sounds, one letter at a time!  And at this point, I saw that as a reason to celebrate.

We also added ‘bathtime’ to the fun.  He loved his letters, so I got soap crayons and we had great fun using the white ceramic tiles on the wall by the tub as our canvas!  I would let him pick a letter and then write every three-letter word which started with that letter.  As I would write them, I would read the letter, then the word!  And, surely enough, my son would read each letter with me.  B-A-T.  BA-. BAT.

Miracle of miracles:  he learned to speak!

Of course, he would NOT EVER repeat a word until he had learned what letters it was made up of, how it broke down to syllables, and how it fit together.  I suppose he was the only toddler I had ever encountered who had learned to READ before he learned to SPEAK!!!

Now, he has a little lisp when he speaks, but he has an above-average vocabulary.  

Another factor, which was happening at this time, and which I think was incredibly beneficial to our son as he tried to decode the mystery of communications, was his interaction with our dog.  Good natured and well trained, he was also very intelligent – and showed incredible patience with both the boys.  And while any pet will be beneficial, a well trained dog in the home can be very valuable in a situation like this. 

Why? 

Because the communication lines are so very clear.  Our dog was trained to obey a limited number very distinct-sounding commands, accompanied by hand signals.  In addition, the dog’s response to these commands was consistent and predictable.  His overall body language was also a much ‘simpler’ communication than the ‘human’ type.  To a young person who is having trouble understanding the underlying rules of communication, this can just be the key to unlock the mystery. 

We did not ‘get’ what was happening, and thought he was just ‘playing pretend’ when our son began to immitate the dog’s actions when we would give the dog a command.  And since the dog loved to ‘practice’ his commands for treats every day, I switched the ‘treat’ from a dog bicuit to an animal cracker….and let them both practice together. 

It may seem silly to people who are not ‘dog lovers’, but many kids love pretending to be ‘the dog’.  It is partly a game, and partly to see what reaction this would get.  And since I thought it was fun, and I was happy that he was interacting, I was delighted.  I would say ‘Sit!’ – and both boy and dog would sit!  I would give them a cracker each, they would happily eat them up, and look to me for the next command!  And he was happy – he finally understood some ‘stuff’!

Perhaps not every child would respond in this way, but then again, my guy is one of a kind!  Yet, I do hope that his story might help people understand that kids who ‘seem’ to be ‘manipulative’ or ‘acting out’ might not be doing that at all.  They may simply not understand what is going or around them, and be trying ‘weird’ ways to make sense of them.  And they may also be very frustrated….

But if you can find the key that will unlock the mystery, they will learn!  And they will be much, much happier – it is rewarding for everyone!  Even the dog…     ;o)

Posted in Aspergers, education, human nature, language, science, society. Tags: , , , , , , . 28 Comments »

Pitfalls

April 20, 2008 — xanthippa

The following is a painfully accurate description of one painful ‘creative’ process  people with Aspergers Syndrome undergo when ‘writing stuff up’:

You have found the perect topic – or perhaps it has been assigned to you.  Either way, you spend weeks figuring out the best angle from which to approach it, because that will determine what you need to read up on and how you organize your thought.  You read anything and everythig related to it, until you find just the most perfect way to present the main idea.

The brain engages, and does not let go!  Not for a little bit.  You even dream about it – if you can sleep at all!  You find yourself reading tons of stuff you realize you should have read long ago, because it added important data that needs to be included in the analysis of whatever it is you are thinking about – and you had already started thingking about it!

OK, re-organize the data in your brain and push the re-start button on the analysis process!  Oh, and all that stuff you wrote up yesterday – well, might as well re-read it before tossing it out….but wait!  This bit – let me ‘Google’ it, it needs to be expanded on so the reader does not become confused!  Oh, you’d better read that, too!

Then you realize that five or six years ago, you read a book or an article on an unrelated topic, but which could be used as an effective parallel – so you spend several hours hunting it down.  Better to also read a few of the underlying studies – to get a feel for the raw data, and thus better understand the reasoning underlying the analysis.  Right.  More data to add, re-start the analysis thinking bit again.

You think you have it:  and tell a friend about it.  It helps to bounce ideas back and forth – not just for the plausibility of your conclusions, but – and perhaps most importantly – to see if there are whole huge chunks of ‘stuff’ you did not explain, because it seemed ‘obvious’ or ‘common knowledge’ to you – yet which do not appear so to people who have not obsessively immersed in this topic for several weeks/months/years.  It is surprising to you how all these people could live happily without intimate knowledge of ‘whatever the topic topic happens to be’!

Your friend has no idea what you’re talking about – so you make a mental note to read up on ‘lay terms’ used to express ‘your stuff’.  More reading, learning how to dumb-down perfectly clear and precise phrases into common words which have layers of meanings, and so can never accurately describe anything exactly and unequivocally.  You’ll just have to compensate by expanding the section where you explain in detail how the words are used in your article.  It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the best that can be hoped for.  Better add a paragraph or two to each sub-section, with more detailed explanations, or the whole point will have been lost.

Right.  Your deadline was a week ago – so even though you know you have a lot more to read up on to make an truly accurate analysis, you’d better get stuff down on paper.  Better include a paragraph or two to explain what you did not get to read up on, so people know and can compensate for it.  Sloppy…  But better than being misleading!

So, you write it up.  It is there, it took days of writing.  It is still terrible, even though you re-wrote each sentence four or five times, re-edited each paragraph to accomodate each sentence re-write, then adjusted the whole document to the changes in the paragraph. But, the basic ideas are there.  Good!

Almost ready.  Now, you just need to edit it down to under 2 pages….which is going to be a little hard.  You now have 78 of them, and that is in very small font in an effort to shrink it.  That will NEVER work!

Perhaps, you decide, you will pick a different topic…

Posted in Aspergers, education, human nature, language, science. Tags: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Astronomical Arrogance in Journalism

April 17, 2008 — xanthippa

Over the last few days, there have been gleeful reports of the ‘big brains’ at NASA having really goofed up – again – only to have a 13-year-old kid fix the mistake in their math.  The arrogant reports also touted a tantilizing tidbit of ‘secret’ information:  ‘someone from NASA confirmed to someone from the European Space Agency that the kid is right!’

Ooooh!  That must have sent shivers of schadenfreude up some journalistic spines!  After all, everyone keeps using the term ‘rocket scientist’ as the ‘smartest possible thing ever’ – and here, we have proof the silly eggheads are not so smart, after all!  Even a kid can wipe the floor with them! 

Except, of course, that the news reports were WRONG!

So, was this a simple case of journalists attempting to inflate their own egoes by taking the scientists down a peg?  Or is there something more at play here…like ‘credibility’.

As Bill Nye the Science Guy used to repeat over and over and over:  extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof!  But these reports went out all over the world – many papers which like to consider themselves ‘respectable’ have reported this as FACT!  The only pretense at ‘proof’ was the ‘uncofirmable gossip’ bit:  done deal, no doubt, NASA is wrong and a 13-year-old is right!   Our source is so very high up in NASA, we cannot even reveal their name!  So, we know and you should trust us.  It’s a fact.

Lubos Motl, one of the world’s leading physicists, has a bit to say about this on his blog, The Reference Frame.  He gives an excellent analysis (both in the main post, and in the comment section where he responds to specific questions) from a scientists’ point of view.  I could not have done it better, and so I will not go into the reasons why Nico Marquadt is not likely to have found an error the NASA dudes missed.  If you’d like, you can read his post here.

My question is a little different:  HOW did this story ever make it into ‘the News’?  And, perhaps more interestingly, WHY?  And why did we hear so much about the original story, but hardly a whisper about the fact that we were fed unverified, unchecked, unreliable and downright wrong information as ‘established facts’?

I can only guess:  it was fun and juicy, looked like it would take down a peg someone who is seen as smarter than most journalists, and – let’s face it – most members of the MSM (main stream media) just do not posses the math skills to check the calculations for themselves.  And they could not be bothered to email the nearest scientist/mathematician for comment.  And they wanted to get that juicy story out right away.  Ok, that might cover the ‘HOW’. 

But WHY?

Again, this is just a guess from an outside observer:  nothing more.  But, could there be some deep resentment between the MSM/journalists and (almost) ALL scientists?  Is there any benefit the MSM could derive from attacking the credibility of scientists in general?  If so, that might signal a sinister bias could be creeping into our news coverage…

No, don’t worry – I’m not turning into a ‘Conspiracy Theorist’ – pointing out who owns what percentage of which paper or magazine…  I cannot really be, because I have not done my homework on this.  However, I do understand a little bit about human nature… Hopefully, I am wrong on this one.

It brings me to the tired old topic of ‘Anthropogenic Climat Change’ (ACC) in its many incarnations.  In the very beginning, I, too, bought into it.  It sounded plausible.  So, I went and learned about the underlying science of it.  Being somewhat obsessive, I read quite a bit about it.  And I learned it was not plausible, after all – and that what was used to tout it was ‘junk science’ and bits of legitimately good science, just taken out of context and twisted.  Oh, and it was all anchored in a study which has been shown to be not just wrong, but actually fraudulent.  So, egg on my face, I had to stand up and say I was wrong to have thought ACC was right.  Yes, I felt a fool…but I deserved it for buying into something before I really checked it out!

The MSM also bought into it.  It sounded good, and they did not bother to look too deeply into the ‘scientific mumb0-jumbo’.  Byt the time the MSM had figured out that the ACC movement was – from its inception – driven by policymakers and not scientists, that the very first studies were commissioned to be one sided only (and by Margaret Thatcher, no less), they had invested themselves WAY too deeply into propagating it.  They bought into it, and sef-righteously attacked any lone scientists who dared to stand up and speak about scientific rigour, actual data, the underlying science….you know, the basis for it!

But now, more and more scientists are speaking out.  More and more data is showing there has not been any ‘Global Warming’ in the last decade.  More and more scandals are coming out about the IPCC report.  Yet the media does very little to cover these new developments.  Unless you go out of your way to look for this information (or regularly check the science websites/scientists’ blogs), it is unlikely that you will have heard about this.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Perhaps because of the explosion of information available on the internet, perhaps because fewer and fewer people trust that the MSM is a trustworthy source of information – the fact is that the MSM is slowly dying.  And they know it.  But instead of examining their lack on impartial and or informed reporting, they blame the loss of their credibility on ‘scientists’….for uncovering the magnitude of the fraud they allowed themselves to be suckered into.

So, whether it is an attempt to regain some relative credibility for themselves by taking some away from ‘the scientists’, or whether it is a punch of an industry that’s going down kicking and screeching – should we be surprised that the MSM reported this falsehood the way they did?

Posted in education, freedoms, human nature, politics, science, society. Tags: , , . 1 Comment »

Aspergers, schooling and frustration

April 16, 2008 — xanthippa

Many people with Aspergers have been treated as ‘stupid’, or – and this is the ‘teachers’ favourite’ – “Your child is co clever, if only he/she would apply himself/herself, he/she could do so much better!”  As if the world were not frustrating enough without such patronizing haughtiness!   

There are very many ‘things’ going on – and many will display themselves as various ‘learning disabilities’:  dyslexia and/or its auditory equivalent, sequencing difficulties, social rejection + + + … and an ever growing frustration.  And yes, this frustration can be crippling – it can ‘freeze’ the mind which is capable of complex reasoning, yet treated as an idiot because one can’t seem to express it!  

In North America, school tests are all written – a ‘double jeopardy’ for Aspies.  First, understanding the scope of the question is a challenge in itself.  Is the answer supposed to be one word, one sentence – or a paragraph?  During written test or exams, one is not supposed to speak – and so cannot ask and find out how big the answer is supposed to be.  Then, it is incredibly difficult for Aspies to write their thoughts down in a consistent, comprehensive manner.  The mechanics of writing itself are hard enough, formulating answers and then remembering them long enough to write them down is something that will take most Aspies years to master.  This difficulty in written expression is kind of the ‘hallmark’ of Aspergers!

I know of a child who was slipping into a deep depression and getting bad marks in school.  After a series of tests, it was shown that he was able to express himself so badly (on tests), he scored in the lowest 25% in general cognitive tests for his age-group.  (That means that 75% children his age were able to write a better answer.)  Yet, in oral testing (and with guidance – letting him ask questions so he assured himself he understood the question and how detailed the answer was supposed to be – and with no time limit), he was found to score higher than 95% of his peers!  He was able to solve math problems from grade 8 exams, yet he was almost failing grade 2!

Can you imagine the amount of frustration this lead to?  That disparity between one’s actual ability, and one’s capability to demonstrate that ability to others can lead to very, very destructive self-image.  Frustration, shame, self-loathing….not really something that will help make things better.  And because it is more pronounced when they are young and have not learned to compensate, early on into their schooling, many Aspies figure out that even trying is pointless.

The key question, of course, is:  so how to fix it? 

The simple sounding answer is:  by exercising the brain.  The latest research on neuroplasticity suggests this can be done, with great results.  In the next few posts, I will try to describe the exercises that I have seen work – though not all people respond to the same way to all the exercises.  I guess that even despite being Aspies, we are all individuals!

And speaking of being individuals:  I just came across a neat article.  Perhaps forms of self-expression like these futuristic tattoos just might help people with Aspergers read the emotions of others!  Perhaps a little silly, but worth the read!

Posted in Aspergers, education, human nature, language, society. Tags: , , , , , . 12 Comments »

Stop global warming now, or…

April 15, 2008 — xanthippa

‘Global Warming’ is a problem.  As is ‘Anthropogenic Climate Change’.  And the ‘Greenhouse Effect’.  Yet, new hope is dawning on the horizon – and it may soon help all of us responsible people to solve these serious, man-made problems.  I just glimpsed it, and thought it so important I am breaking into the ‘Aspergers’ chain of posts in order to let you about it!

No, there has not been a new breakthrough in science, nor have we actually done much of the stuff the so-called ‘watermelons’ have been shrieking at us to do.  Not even a bit.  Yet, today, I glimpsed a new weapon!  A powerful weapon which has the power to make all these problems managable – if only we will have the perseverence to consistently apply it!

What is this wonderous weapon?  How can we wield it?  It is nothing less than humour!

The words “Stop global warming now“a ppeared on the TV screen, then faded.  Now the word “or” came and went, with a circle materializing about it.  “Or all the …(name of a chocolate confection)… will melt!” as the circle resolved itself into a magnificent, mouthwatering peanut-butter cup!  And just to drive the point home, it shimmered, as if ready to melt. Yuuuuum!

How shall this solve the problem of ‘Global Warming’, ‘ACC’ and ‘the Greenhouse Effect’?  The best way possible.

As I identified them earlier, these are all man-made problems.  Not natural ones, not environmental ones, even though they are global in their impact.  These things are a successful cross between a marketing campaign, a socialist income re-distribution scheme and a full blown cult.  And the only science contained within them has been taken out of context, twisted and perverted!

This manipulative watermelon chiamera has bullied scientists, hijacked political debates and intimidated journalists for years now.  But they have a real problem:  it is becoming more and more difficult to dismiss the 10 years of temperatures that show no increase, to hush up the indictments of fraud inside the very studies their holy scripture, the IPCC report, is anchored in, and to silence the ever growing number of reputable (non-oil connected) scientists, analysts and thinkers who are pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes. 

Since the watermelons’ credibility has been slipping more and more, their  hysteria has risen to a new high.  If the pun were not so horrible, I might even have said the pitch will soon be high enough to shatter the glass from the greenhouse! 

Just as ‘Harry Potter’s’ ‘boggart in the cupboard’ could only be exorcised by the incantation ‘Riddiculus!’, so these militant activists can best be stopped by frequent and consciencious application of humour.  Because all the busybodies and ‘bannies‘ who are righteously bullying ‘the human herd’ – whatever stripe or denomination they take – cannot abide being laughed at. 

So, let’s let laughter be our medicine!

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Aspergers and Reading

April 14, 2008 — xanthippa

Teaching children with Aspergers’ syndrome new skills can be very trying and, at times, discouraging.  Perhaps because there are so many ways Aspergers affects children, no single method will work for all Aspergers kids.  If you have missed my introduction to my personal insight into Aspergers’ and a look at Aspergers and ADD, you can find them here and here.

Aspergers is something my family shares:  I, my husband, our sons, several of our nephews and nieces – we all have Aspergers in common.  Yet, each one of us exhibits it a little differently, each one of us needs to build up quite a different set of tools to help us function.

For example, my older son loved to be read to.  He had a favourite nighttime routine, and it involved about an hour of being read to.  And he soaked it all up, like a sponge.  He loved some fairy tales, some myths, but his favourites were non-fiction books. And he remembered it all.  I loved to tease him by changing a word here or there – and he always ‘caught my cheating’!  Once he learned that this was ‘humour’, we laughed a lot about it.

When it came to learning to read himself, it was not so easy.  He went to a Montessori pre-school, where the teachers thought that ‘making him learn his letters would discourage him from wanting to learn’.  So, they didn’t – they let him iron facecloths instead (it also fell under the ‘practical skills’ section, just as ‘learning letters’ did).  Needless to say, we did not continue with Montessori for grade 1.  It genuinely appears to be a good educational system, but the only children I personally have met who thrived in the Montessori environment were girls whose sole learning motivation was pleasing their teachers/parents.

Yet, learning to read (much less write) did not come easily, even when we switched our son to a highly structured classroom environment with a very high teacher to student ratio.  His grade 1 teacher was most excellent, however, and dedicated to making him succeed.  She taught us many valuable lessons!

Our son was struggling to understand the written words.  His constant complaint was that by the time he decoded a letter, he could not remember what the prevoius letter was – or what the sentence was about.  He was trying, but it looked to us like the only things he seemed to be able to really concentrate on effectively were video games.

Seeing our opening, we pounced! 

A friend recommended ‘The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time’ as an excellent videogame.  It is interesting, engages the child, age appropriate – and it requires reading in order to play!  From the very first moment, it captivated our son.  He was eager to play the game, as much as he possibly could.

At the beginning, we were very accomodating.  We read all the text which popped up, and without which he could not progress in the game.  Being a perfectionist, he liked to make sure he completely mastered each and every skill before moving on to the next bit.  The key to learning skills in videogames is repetition.  And so, he repeated the same sections, over and over and over.  He seemed to derive comfort as well as pleasure from the ‘variable predictability’ which came from this: he knew that if he went and chopped down the grass in front of a particular house, there would be rupees (gems which designate points) in several clumps of grass – but not which clumps!  It was the perfect combination of suspense and predictability – at least, for our son, at that time!

Slowly and over time, however, we stopped reading the text to him.  He had been over the same areas so many times, he seemed to have memorized them anyway, and so it did not seem to be much of a big deal.  And one of us was always there, whenever he explored a new section of the game, ready to read the new instructions.  Once, twice, three times.  Occasionally, more than that…and each time we read it, we were slower, and slower, and slower…

As he became more interested in the plot of the game, he became more and more anxious to decode the information quickly.  Having been read it once or twice, with the setting to remind him of the context, he found it easier and easier to remember the captions, with the aid of visual prompts of the text…  And, over time, we only needed to read the text the first time around – after then, he would remember/decode or decode/remember  it on his own. 

And, through it all, we would talk about it (while he was not playing the game):  what did he do, how, what it meant, how did he think things would go next…  When he could not come up with possible future scenarios (to be expected), we would supply some and have him tell us how likely it seemed, based on what had already happened.  This is an essential step – it connects the experience to the analysis centre of the brain, something which is not automatic, yet very important in the development of critical reading skills.  These neural pathways need to be established and reinforced, over and over and over.

Eventually, this decoding became reading in its own right!  Not just decoding text to sound, but really, really reading, with all the levels of comprehension this implies!

It is hard to know whether it was the repetition of the text, the motivation, or the context which stimulated the decoding of a message anticipated by memory.  My opinion is that it was a combination of all these factors.  Regardless of the mechanism, he learned to read!

But more than that!  Once he was able to ‘wrap his brain’ around the mechanics of reading, he became one of the most voratious, fast, discriminating readers I have ever met.  By the end of grade 1, he read several books, including ‘The Hobbit’.  Once he finished that, we -as a family – read ‘The Lord of the Rings’ aloud together, each of us taking turns to do parts of the reading.  Over the summer, he read the trilogy on his own.  Twice.

Just to give an example of the speed with which he now reads:  when one of the ‘Harry Potter’ books – the one that was about 1200 pages – came out a few years ago, he read it in under 12 hours.  Not only did he retain an almost encyclopedic memory of the plot, he also gained a deep comprehension of it.

Of course, this is just one story of one boy’s journey to learn to read.  It will be different for each child with Asprgers.  It certainly was for my other son!

Yet, it does seem to me (both from this, and many other experiences) that once an ‘Aspie’ masters a skill – and I really mean masters, not just ‘becomes profficient enough to hide their difficulties’ – it has an immense impact on all the other spheres of learning and experience.  It almost seems that acquiring a skill opens not just a door, but a veritable portal – a superhighway through which new skills and experiences can be routed!

Yes, it is much more challenging to teach an ‘Aspie’ child – but it is also incredibly rewarding!  Each step is a struggle, and it may seem overwhelming – both for the child and the parents and educators.  Yet, in no other group of children that I have worked with (voluneering, it is essential that I stress I have no professional credentials in this field and these are my personal observations) have the successes had such a tremendous impact on both the overall cognition and happiness of the child.

Please, no matter how hard it is, do not give up.  Change your methods, try out your hunches and new experimental things – and see if they work.  Give them time – but not too much time!  If they do not work, regardless of the credentials of the person recommending them, try something else.  Because each child is different, and each ‘Aspie’ child is profoundly different….  And you, who spends the most time with them, are the one who is by far the most competent to judge what is or is not effective.

The brain is a wonderful and wonderous thing.  It can do way more than we ever expect.  Neuroplasticity is real, even if it takes a while to show.  So, as they say on ‘Galaxy Quest’:  “Never give up!  Never Surrender!”

Posted in education, human nature, language, society. Tags: , , , . 3 Comments »

Aspergers and ADD

April 13, 2008 — xanthippa

As promised, this the second one of my very personal perspectives on living with Asperger Syndrome.  If you have missed my introduction, you can find it here.

Not being professionally trained in these fields, I can only offer the most basic observations.  Many people diagnosed with ‘Asperger Syndrome’ are also diagnosed with one or more of other ‘problems’, such as ‘Attention Deficit Syndrome’ (ADD).  I wanted to link the ‘ADD’ bit to some good site that defines it, but, well, I could not find one that reflects reality.  My reality, anyway!

Contrary to popular belief (and the focus of most ‘ADD’ articles and treatments), this does not denote the inability to pay attention.  Rather, it denotes difficulties in contolling one’s ‘concentration’.  It’s like the ‘focus switch’ is very, very deep:  it takes a lot for something to trigger it, but when it does – it is just as hard for it to get un-triggered.  This is a much more complex thing than just being unable to settle down or to control one’s impulses. 

Rather, these are possible symptoms, not the causes of the problem.  Yet, it seems that no professional seems to want to see , discuss, treat or, indeed, acknowledge anything other than the symptoms…which is why they usually are not much help at all.

This is my personal suspicion of a small part of the causes:  it has a lot to do with ‘filtering’ the stimulae we are constantly bombarded with.  It’s like the ‘light’ and ‘medium’ filters are completely missing.  So, the only options the brain has is to use the ‘extra-strenght-don’t-let-anything-through’ filters, or no filters at all…

For example, I have a problem with my hair:  if it is cut short (or if I have bangs), the areas of my skin which are touched by the ends of the individuals hairs are constantly being stimulated.  I cannot, no matter how hard I try, control this continuous input.  It is constantly rubbing and I cannot block it.  The continuous stimulation to the skin results in a physiological response – exczema.  Mine is not a reaction to any hair product – this was tested for. 

It is a response to the constant, minor yet unceassing stimulation due to the hair-ends rubbing against my skin and it is something that fails to be filtered by the brain.  My only solution is to have hair long enough to pin up or tie back, so it does not touch my skin….then I have to rearrange it often so the ‘position’ of the hair does not become painful.  To other people, it looks like I am always fidgeting with my hair – like a nervous habit or a mannerism.  Yet, I am only relieving built up pain.

Compare this to a ‘normal’ (or, as many ‘Aspergers pride’ people refer somewhat condescendingly to the rest of the population, the ‘neurotypicals’, or NTs) response:  after being exposed to a repetitive stimulus for several minutes (less for some individuals), their brain automatically compensates.  An example is ‘getting used to’ the cool temperature of the lake, or the hot water in a bath.  The skin sends initial signals informing the brain of the new stimulus, but after a while, the intensity is decreased. 

For many people who have ADD (and most ‘Aspies’ do have some form of it), this ‘filtering’ does not always happen.  You are always aware of the clothing that is touching you.  You are always aware of even the minutest breeze rubbing your skin (I, for one, I experience even a tiny draft in a room as intense pain on my skin – I could never understand how people could stand in front of a fan, or go outside in the wind).

For me, it’s my skin (well, that’s one of my ‘things’).  Other people can have other things that they have trouble filtering out.  Bright light can make them feel blinded or anxious, or the light contrast between the digital display of a clock in a dark room can trigger such anxiety as to prevent one from being able to fall asleep.  Falling asleep in front of a TV would be unimaginable for these people.

On the other hand, I know several people who can only sleep with the TV on:  the constant yet irregular changes in light and sound levels help block the regular cyclicity of the white noise of the heating system, air conditioner, and so on which seem to feed into the subconscious and cause bad reactions.  If the TV is turned off after they fall asleep, the cyclicity of the white noise will be enough to trigger some feenback loop, which keeps buildig up until they get an axiety attack while they are sleeping!  Not a pleasant way to wake up…

And don’t even let me get started on the rustling of leaves, crickets chirping or wind chimes!

On the other hand, when my brain focuses on something – and I mean, really focuses on something – external stimula have about zero chance of breaking through.  People can talk to me – and claim I made responses – yet I am not aware of it…not even a little bit!  Little things, like fire alarms, can go completely unnoticed.  And I am not alone! 

When my younger son was only a few months old, we became worried because there were times – but only some times – when we could make a very loud noise, directly behind him – and I mean LOUD – yet it would produce absolutely no response in him whatsoever!  Not even the tiniest twitch!  His brain was being used in processing something else – so it paid no attention to the audial input.  The physical reaction was the same as if he had never registered the stimulus at all!  I must admit, I am also guilty of this – as are both my husband, and my father….

But, here comes the interesting bit:  and yes, my father, my son and my husband all display this:  sometimes, you speak to them, they hear what is said and their brain stores it in some sort of a ‘buffer’ – but it never gets to the bit of brain that actually processes it.  They are completely unaware of whatever it was that was said, and appear oblivious to having been spoken to.  But, if you ask them to go back, they can ‘replay’ the message from the ‘buffer’ in their brain and ‘listen’ to it.  ‘Oh, yes’, they say, ‘I get what you want now!’

Hopefully, this will help give people a little bit of understanding of what is happening in those of us with ADD.

Posted in Aspergers, education, human nature, society. Tags: , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Abolish, not boycott

April 10, 2008 — xanthippa

This morning, a talk-show host on the radio was going on about teaching the moral leeson of the Olympic Spirit to our children….  It made me think:  what exactly are the ‘morals of the Olympics’?

Since we live in modern days (and in order to not get into actual wars fought inside the Olympic stadia while the races were on), let’s just look at the morals displayed in the modern-day Olympic Games. 

The logical place to look is at the governing body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  Just a quick ‘Google’ for ‘IOC Scandal’…and the first five searches yielded scandal stories written in 5 different years:  2004, 2000, 1999, 2002 and 1998 respectively.  Either, they have a LOT of scandals, or their scandals are big enough to drag on for years….  Bribery and misconduct are among the charges.  A fine example of ‘moral’ behaviour by the individual members of the IOC…

Yes, you may say, humans are not infalliable.  At least their aims are good!  Well, look at their stated goals on the Wikipedia page.  I will list them here, translated from ‘bureaucratese’ (in which I am fluent) into ‘common-sense’ English (caution – this is my interpretation, and might differ from the way the IOC might wish you to interpret them):

1.  Promote ‘ethics’ and ‘fair play’ – that is, if the Russian figure skating judge promises to the French figure skating judge that if she gives the Russian pair the highest marks, they’ll give the French ones high marks in individual skating, by gosh, that Russian judge had better keep his word!

2.  Give money to our subsidiary organizations.

3.  Make sure EVERYBODY celebrates (gives money to) the Olympic Games – that is, us.

4.  World peace – you can pay for it through us!  Send money to P.O. Box…

5.  Protect the ‘Olympic Movement’ – yeah, and poo-pooh people who criticize us!  They’re probably just jelaous of our cash!

6.  Same as point 5, but in different words:  we really don’t want to stem the flow of cash!

7.  Promote women’s sports and equality of all men and women.  That is why we’ve imposed sexual apartheid in all competitions – the pretty little things would stand no chance against us big strong men!

8.  No doping – unless we’re paid off to change the tests first.  Just today, we’re taking an American runners’ medals away – so make sure you pay us enough!

9.  Protect the health of athletes:  that is why we make sure that the levels at which these athletes compete will cripple them from arthritis by the time they’re 40.  And, the smog-filled places we hold the games, well, the health effects of smog are exaggerated…

10.  Oppose commercialization and politicization of athletes.  Really, we mean it!!!!  Never mind that the Olympic Games are plastered with sponsor ads.  We can prove the politicization bit, though:  the accomplishments of the athletes themselves are recognized – not their home country….except for all the anthems and flag-waving and keeping track of medals by country and…  Just, never mind this one!

11.  Home countries should pay the athletes to train, so we can make money off their performances.

12.  Promote sports – through our subsidiary organizations only, so the cash can keep flowing!

13.   The decision of where future games will be located will be made based on the latest political buzzwords, as well as bribes financial contributions to our movement (yeah, not the ones to us individually).

14.  Leave a good feeling with the host country/city – i.e. we will be gracious in accepting the bribes culturally enriching presents from our hosts.  In the name of the Olympic Spirit, of course…

15.  Politicize sports, brainwash kids to it – it doesn’t count when we do it.

16.  Give money to our minion subsuduary organizations.  Keep the cash flowing!!!

Oh, my, these are some ‘morals’!  Are we sure this is not a religious cult in its own right?  All that talk about sending money, and the ‘Great Olympic Spirit’, and promoting themselves…  However, I fail to understand why anyone would want to teach this – as a ‘good thing’ – to their kids!  Just a bit more decay, and the IOC will be as ‘moral’ as the UN!!!

Perhaps calling for the boycott of the Beijing games is not the best course of action:  perhaps we have to scrap the whole thing!  Starting with the Beijing games…

Posted in human nature, philosophy, politics, religion, society. Tags: , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Athletes vs Human Rights

April 9, 2008 — xanthippa

When you put it this way, many athletes might feel kinda baaaad…

Many people are justifying ‘not boycotting’ the Olympic games in Beijing by calling attention to the plight of the athletes:  these people have trained and sacrificed, to be at the pinnacle of their form, so they could perform at these games!  Denying them the chance to go could dash their Olympic hopes forever, because it is unlikely that most of them will be able to remain at their highest performance level for four years.

So, what should one say to an athlete who has perhaps sacrificed a lot, instead of investing in a career and a home, they have invested in training and now it will all be for naught?  I have an answer! 

Get a life!

Sports are a hobby!  It is something we do for fun and pleasure – and to keep ourselver healthy.  It is ‘self-care’. 

How do I know it?  Because if I want to buy a membership in an athletic club, go swimming in a public pool, ride a bicycle, play ball on a sports field – I have to pay for it!  Just like I have to pay for my haircut, my facial, my manicure… and these are also necessities for a competition!  A different competition, to be true, but a completition based on physical attributes, their training and presentation!  Except that the other beauty contests are nowhere near as politicized as the Olympic Games are, were, and always will be.

Are you getting angry yet? 

Good!  You should be.

Comparing the preparation and dedication necessary to compete at the Olympic games to those of a beauty contest is ludicrous (though some little girls might differ).  Yes, beauty contestants also need it – but the degree of magnitude is somewhat lower.  Importance, and all that…

Now imagine the degree of dedication it takes to stand up for human rights against an opressive, callous, arrogant giant like the Peoples’ Republic of China!

Yes, a few degrees of magnitude greater than the athletes need to get ready for the Olympics!  

So, now, perhaps you can understand the anger that decent people feel rise up within them when someone worries about dissapointing the athletes… or places their desire for self-validation above the very survival of a peoples threatened with genocide!

Posted in freedoms, human nature, politics, religion, society. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Olympics, Politics…and other ‘-icks’

April 8, 2008 — xanthippa

To boycott or not to boycott – that is the question!

At least, that is the question on everyone’s mind.  But why?

So many people who wish the Olympics to go on ‘as usual’.  “Don’t drag politics into the Olympics!’ they say.  “The athletes have trained hard for this pinnacle of their efforts – most will not stay in top shape for the next Olympics!”  “The athletes have two great moments:  when they perform, and when they walk into the Olympic Stadium behind their country’s flag during Opening Ceremonies – you cannot deprive them of this!”  “What would boycotting the games accomplish?”

What a load of dingo’s kidneys!!!

 Let’s take a closer look…

1.  Olympics in the ancient times 

From their inception, the Olympic games were about politics and reilgion!  And there were wars fought over who would control the games – and reap the political benefits from doing so.  Yes, the favour of various deities was vied for, but that would be in the form of real polititcal advantages for the host city-state.

So, for all those people loudly shouting that ‘politics should not be dragged into the Olympic games’ – politics was why they were started!

Of course, if you really want to be true to the ancient Olympic spirit, you will only run 2 footraces for naked men and 2 footraces for 16 women…. Oh, and all the participants must be able to speek Greek.

Ah, but those were just them silly ancients!  We are so way above dragging politics into the modern Olympic games!  Yeah, right.  Pull the other one!

2.  Modern Olympic Games

Why were the Modern Olympic Games revived?  Well, in a nutshell, because the French could not get over loosing the Franko-Prussian war – and thought this would be a political payback.  Some very cynical people (and I would never endorse this point of view myself – I simply report it, since people are questioning the ‘politicization’ of the games) have claimed that the French could not win the war… but they thought that if the discipline was running, they just might excell.  So they decided to put on a running race…  The ancient Olympia was just found by archeologists, so the idea presented itself – and the first games were symbolically placed in Greece.  Legitimacy through tradition, and all that political stuff.  But, to drive the French political agenda, the very next one went to Paris…

Ah, but it was not political after this!

Yeah, right.  And water is not falling from the skies when it rains!  In the interest of brevity (!), let us look at just one example:

Twenty two countries boycotted the Montreal Olympics in 1976, not because Canada did anything, but because they allowed in athletes from New Zeland.  And what did the government of New Zeland do, that was so very terrible?  Nothing.  Just some New Zeland athletes dared to play sports with a country whom these twenty two countries thought (correctly) to be oppressive.

Yes, let us review.  Canada did not opress anyone.  New Zeland did not opress anyone.  But, some athletes from new Zeland took part in a sports event (not paying attention to politics) with non-opressive athletes from an opressive country, and other athletes from New Zeland, who were never part of that sport, were going to the games in Canada… so the Canadian games were boycotted.  That would make Canada, the host, three degrees separated (if not more) from the opression itself.

Gee, I wonder what would have happened if Canada had actually opressed someone…..would have been very lonely games!

So, what country was it, that got Canada boycotted, because one of their visitors once played with them?  What was that country’s crime?  Ah, it was the racial opression in South Africa!  And the racially opressive practices of the South African government of those days truly were deplorable.  Targetting a portion of a country’s population, and brutally opressing them, because of their ethnicity!  Shame, shame, shame, shame!!!

Yeah, that is soooo very differen than the situation today:  OK, so China is targetting and brutally opressing a portion of their population, because of their Tibetan ethnicity… but, well, this is China!!!  They have all the money, and unlike South Africa, we want access to their market and their cheap stuff!!!  Yeah, and the Tibetans are so annoying – represented as they are by that Dalai Lama:  always smiling, preaching non-violence and wanting people to get along!  Sheesh!  And who trusts a religious leader without any major scandals under his belt, anyway???

 So, why is Archbishop Desmond Tutu (another one of them holy men without a major scandal – unless you consider the Nobel Peace prize a scandal – like the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Tutu has one), the one man who truly peacefully laboured for the end of opression in South Africa, why is he supporting the boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games? 

Could it be that he is colourblind?

Posted in human nature, politics, religion, society. Tags: , , , . 2 Comments »
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