What are people on the autism spectrum thinking?
Andy, a 21-year-old Asperger young man at the University of Cambridge, shared his own growth process with a 4-minute short video:
As the leader in the eyes of others, Andy said in the video that she is not as good as everyone imagines, on the contrary, she has been a "problem student" in the eyes of teachers from childhood to adulthood, and her mother is also most afraid of receiving calls from school, because she knows that her son must be in trouble again!
After countless complaints from the teacher, his mother took him to the doctor and learned that Andy had Asperger's syndrome and belonged to autism spectrum disorder.
Why do autistic children like to leave their seats during class? Why do I always wander when the teacher lectures? Why can't I listen to the rules?
In the video, Andy gives the answer, it turns out that his thinking mode is like this -
Classes are often cloudy
But you can still listen to the teacher's lectures
When the teacher writes the letter O on the blackboard, Andy will unconsciously make up a beating face. In the teacher's opinion, Andy always deserted in class, but he did not know that Andy listened to all the content of the lecture.
Andy is not Versailles, and studies have shown that people with autism are easily distracted by sensory stimuli around them.
For example, when writing homework, autistic children may stare at the pencil on the table; they will have to look at anything outside the window; they will also capture many stimuli that are difficult for ordinary people to pay attention to, such as faint sounds, vibrations, and light.
Distractions make it difficult for children with autism to adapt to the regular classroom, but it also allows them to have an active mind and creativity. (It's not hard to understand them!) 7 Characteristics of Thinking in Autistic People)
When communicating
You need to be clear about the context
In daily life, we often ask autistic children to follow the rules, but they can't always do it. Andy said, "We're not unreasonable, it's just that you have to know how to talk about it." ”
For example, Andy likes to leave his seat during class. If you just say "No! "He probably won't listen at all, and he'll move around in his seat.
However, if you tell him that walking around or making a sound will distract other students and make them unable to concentrate on class. He will understand and begin to sit obediently.
As Andy says, many times, communicating with autistic people requires a clear picture of what's going on before they can understand it.
Rice and Millet author "Walking with the Stars" shared a story:
When I was in love with Asperger's husband, I told him I wanted to see a movie, and he said, "Okay, take you to see it." As a result, when we went to the cinema hand in hand, and I specially selected the sci-fi movies he loved to watch, he only bought one ticket and said to me, "You go to see it." ”
Confused, I asked him, "You don't go?" He was also confused and replied, "Aren't you going to see a movie?" Now that you've been brought here, why aren't you happy yet? ”
Afterwards I was angry, but he was dazed. I could only explain to him after I lost my temper that the girl said that she wanted to watch a movie with you. However, he complained that I did not speak strictly.
Later, I asked him to see a movie again, and specifically said to him, "I want to see a movie, I want to go with you." ”
He agreed, we went to the studio together, and after he asked me which position I wanted to sit in, he went to the queue to buy tickets. As a result, he bought me the back row, bought himself the front row, and told me, "I like to sit in the front row." (What was it like to have a "suspected" Asperger's husband?) ）
Abstract concepts are not understood
It's hard to tell the same thing
In social communication, Andy is often criticized for having a "bad attitude." He remembered that the behavior of "closing the door with force" is a bad attitude, so why does the next time everyone says that "shaking legs" is also called a bad attitude?
He wondered, "What exactly does attitude mean?" ”
People with autism have difficulty understanding abstract concepts, and they have a hard time understanding that the same word can describe completely different behaviors.
Andy's confession not only allows us to better understand the way autistic children think, but more importantly, helps us realize the problems that we may overlook when communicating with autistic children.
In fact, many times, the puzzling behavior of autistic children is related to their unique way of thinking. Here, I would like to share with you 3 groups of experiments related to the thinking of autistic people.
Experiment one
Where is Willie
In the BBC documentary "Into Autism", British psychologist Uta Fles did a quiz - "Where is Willie".
Note: "Where is Willie" is a children's book game created by a British illustrator, and the player needs to find a specific character Willie (a spectacled gentleman with a pompom hat, a red and white striped shirt, and a cane) from a crowded situational drawing.
A picture from Where Is Willie
It turned out that Willie, which non-autistic people may not find for a long time, can be found quickly by autistic people.
Lab Video:
Video of where Willy experimented
In response to this interesting phenomenon, some analysts believe that this may be because autistic people pay more attention to local details.
Experiment two
False belief tasks
This was an experiment applied to autism research in 1985 by renowned clinical psychologist Simon Barron-Cohen, and consisted of two characters – Sally and Ann.
Sally put a glass ball into his basket and left the room. After Sally left, Ann took the opportunity to sneak out the glass ball and put it in his box.
Then ask the child observing next to her: Where will she go to find the glass ball when Sally returns?
False Belief Task Experiment
Experiments have found that many normal children give the answer that Sally will go to her basket to find it, because although the ball was taken by Ann, Sally who left did not know...
However, autistic children will think that Sally will go to the place where the glass ball is actually located, that is, Inn's basket, and they will have a hard time entering the game situation to think and understand that Sally does not know that the glass ball has been taken.
It is difficult for autistic people to consider that others have different and own thoughts and ideas from them, which is one of the reasons why autistic people have difficulty socially.
Experiment three
Watch the animation tell the story
This is an animated scenario as follows:
Watch animated storytelling experiment GIFs
Based on this little animation, what story will you tell?
The average person's train of thought is probably: the small triangle wants to run outside, and the big triangle chases behind. If the imagination is a little richer, it will make a personification of the triangle, a bear child, sneaking out of the house...
However, after the autistic people saw this animation, the story told was fantastic! For example: this is a boxing ring, two triangles suddenly do not want to play after playing; the red triangle is a prisoner, caught by the blue triangle...
Watch animation tell a story experiment
The researchers scanned the brains of the animators and found that there was a less active area of the autistic people's brains that controlled the ability to mentalize.
This may indicate that the average person seems to be interpreting the behavior of others in the same way, while autistic people lack the wonderful brain function that can quickly keep up with social interactions.