INSIDE PERSPECTIVES of AS & Neurodiversity

LEARNING

Many ASD, ADHD, TS, dyslexic and other neuro-atypical individuals, seem to be very gifted in some subjects and need adequate challenge in these, while they may have learning difficulties in others. It is not uncommon to be years ahead of peers in favourite subjects and years behind in the ones of least interest. Some seem to thrive on intense mental, social and/or sensory stimulation; others get easily overwhelmed & distracted and learn best in solitude, at their own pace.

· If sensitive children are put in a regular class they may be both under-stimulated in their best subjects (bored stiff from not learning anything new), ostracised by other students and/ or physically overstimulated by the environment.

· If they are recognized as having a learning disability they may get the help they need but perhaps not have their gifts given adequate attention and stimulation.

· If they are recognised as gifted they may receive the required stimulation in their best subjects, but still have to struggle with the rest and may feel pressured to perform equally well in all areas. Many people don’t realise that you can be gifted and still have learning disabilities at the same time. Linda Silverman calls these children ‘twice exceptional’.

“In school I was in the top 2 percentile, which was as high as the test series my schools used went. School was almost always boring for me since we spent so much time on things that I had already grasped an understood. This was especially so in math, so much so that I came to hate it and it has affected me ever since. The problem then became one of my scholastic performance not measuring up to my potential. The adults never could figure this out. They also never paid attention to me when I told them that the classes were boring and slow. Eventually I just learned to ‘coast’ and do my best work in some classes to compensate for poor performance in others, like the math classes.”

- William, adult Aspie from USA

“When I went to school the belief seems to have been that gifted and learning disabled were opposites and it was not possible to be both. In my early years of grade school I had much difficulty because most of our instruction was given orally and I have difficulty processing auditory information. (I had some other problems as well, but that was the most significant.) Starting from around fourth grade instruction tended to be more from books and I am much better than the average person at getting information from books. I went from special ed classes to regular classes to gifted classes all within the same school year. The teachers were very puzzled but finally decided I was just a ‘later bloomer.’

“On the negative side of being ‘gifted’ was that when I was not able to do something ‘easy’ I was ‘lazy,’ ‘unmotivated,’ an ‘underachiever,’ ‘being difficult,’ etc. There were quite a few kids at my high school that were smart but did poorly in school. I wonder how many of them were gifted/learning disabled. Another factor is that people with a learning disability that have learned to compensate for it (like me) are not usually classified with a learning disability.

“I also notice that it seems like many parents place much more pressure on their children now that they did when I was growing up. At least it seems like it from my experiences. If my mom [had] pressured me to take all these extra [curricular] activities they seem to shove down kids throats today, I don't think I could have handled it.”

- Ilah, adult probable Aspie from USA

· Thus, individualised education seems to be the most appropriate for atypical children. Especially since they often have an atypical learning style too, which may make it hard even for a gifted child to learn if teaching is not done in a way that is suitable for that person’s way of learning.

“I am not sure if this is still the case, but it seems that in many schools they are not truly interested in helping the very brightest students reach their full potential. These would be the kids who are getting A's even in the advanced classes, but still not reaching their full potential.

“I hope this doesn't sound like bragging, but this is me again too. I do not do my best from learning in lecture settings or having a learning environment with lots of distraction, but managed to get very good marks dispite all this (primarily by spending long hours at home reading and studying undisturbed in my very quite home). I wonder sometimes what great academic things I might have been able to accomplish if only they had left me each day in a quiet library with paper, pencil, books and no distractions.”

- Ilah, adult probable Aspie from USA

· Ideally, every child (not just children with special needs) should be tested for learning style, sensitivity level, introversion/extraversion, talents & interests etc., and have education tailored to suit their particular needs. This could make learning the pleasure it should be, instead of the torture it often is for children in general and for sensitive children in particular.

“When I was a kid they didn't have gifted programs or separate classes at all. In kindergarten I was too shy to let anyone know I could read so I don't think the teacher knew. I just loved being there, anyway. But in 1st grade I had an awesome teacher who separated the kids into groups as to how well they could read. She would go to each group giving them individual help. I remember doing this in other grades, as well. It was just accepted that that's what you do. This was in the early 70's too, but I think the school I went to was known for it's good teachers (the evil nurse was another story!). Plus my quietness was always seen as being a good little girl. I wish they would pay teachers more--they're so important, especially when you're in grade school--it can scar you to have a bad teacher that early.”

- Carrie, adult Aspie

· It is not a good mix to put hypersensitive HSP/AS/ADD kids in the same class as those with classical autism, uncontrollable ADHD or TS. These are often at opposite ends of a sensory tolerance spectrum and need to be tutored separately in order to protect the sensitive ones from the ones that can’t sit still and be quiet.

· Nor is it fair to either party to put Asplings hungering for knowledge and mental stimulation in the same class as children who are mentally disabled, just because they happen to share the same social disabilities.

   “That cousin of mine that I have mentioned from time to time, her son was put into special education because he had learning problems. From their experience, being in special education seems to be counter productive for a lot of people. First off, he didn't really get the training that he needed. Second, there were kids in there who shouldn't have been, who needed to be elsewhere for more specialized care.

   “Some of the kids in that class were terribly disabled. Several of them were ‘shaken babies’ and were barely functional. Most of them were so bad off that they were being trained to just push a single button to communicate. Now, children that bad need more specialized care than being in a room full of kids and divided attention from the teachers.

   “Many others weren't that bad, but most sound like bad ADD kids and were wild. Again, those kids need different care than what most Aspies would need. Extra courses in social skills and coping methods would be good for us. Now, it would be nice to have a quiet room too away from the noisy regular cretins.”

- William, adult Aspie from USA

· Many Aspies learn best if they can concentrate on the same subject all day, instead of being jolted from one to the other in rapid succession.

“I found that my teachers would change the subject matter of the lessons just when they started to get interesting, and changing to a new topic was like losing an old friend. It also became dizzying in the sense that there was no rhyme or reason to the switches. One day we would be studying American Indians, then the Civil War, then Spanish Explorers, then Austrailian Aboriginal peoples.

“Whereas the other kids were wanting ‘something new’ after the second day of lessons on a topic, I was wanting to stay on the same topic after we had been on it a week. This was why I did mediocre in elementary, middle, and high school, but did well in college. In college, you could take WHOLE CLASSES on ONE subject. My Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton classes were the absolute favorites. Imagine doing nothing but studying these subjects for a whole semester each!”
- Tom, adult Aspie from USA

“there are things i gots to study, like english and maths and things but i can chose when i study and how. like i just have certain goals and objectives for each thing. it is better too because she says i can do all one thing one day and that helps me better than having lots of things to study at one time. i used to not like having to change me mind about a topic of focus so quickly just because everyone else did and the school made me. also, yes, the hours are less each day and when i am more awakes in late afternoon! so that helps better too.”

- Martka, adolescent HFA from Scotland, about the transition to personal home tutor

· Since love of factual accuracy is often a lot stronger than the sense for self-preservation or social tactfulness, many Aspies have an unfortunate habit of correcting their teachers if these do not provide correct information. The surprised Aspie often finds that this friendly helpfulness very rarely is appreciated...

“My teachers always gave me a hard time because I was constantly correcting them with facts drawn from textbooks and libraries. (The way I saw it, I was doing them a service each time. Why would any teacher WANT to teach 25+ kids incorrectly? - Nevertheless, I always got marks off for disrupting the class). Nothing would have helped me change my behavior significantly.

“What caused me to make it through school was finally seeing it as a jail sentence that had to be served, after which I would be transferred to still another jail (junior high, high school, college, etc). The one thing I wanted to make sure of was that I didn't prolong my sentence.”

- Tom, adult Aspie from USA

DYSLEXIA

· Dyslexia seems to sometimes co-occur with ASD and ADHD and is considered part of the Neurodiversity spectrum. All those I know who have dyslexia are wonderful people and often have other gifts instead. In a TV-interview with the real Erin Brockovich, she said that her Dyslexia was part of what enabled her to memorise numbers and facts in such an amazing way and spot patterns in huge amounts of text.

“In hindsight, Dyslexia is my greatest gift. It taught me how to work and think outside the box.”

- Erin Brockovich, famous dyslexic

“I do have other useful skills that i probably would not have if i was not an illiterate aspie. I am referring to my skills and ability in electronic engineering. Even though i could burly read or write when i left hi school i did have well above average results in all the non word intensive subjects (physics, maths, tech drawing) which managed to get me an apprentice at British Aerospace in 1983.

“My unlimited enthusiasm (obsession) earned me the position as the most successful apprentice ever and i am the only apprentice ever to be offered a permanent position in one of the most technical departments in the organization (machine tool electronic maintenance) from just hearing of my reputation only.

“Shortly after i joined the department i picked up a large circuit board that looked technically interesting, tested it just for my curiosity to see how it works and in doing so found a fault which i repaired. I was informed that the reason it was left on the bench was because all the other engineers had tried and given up in repairing it.

“From then on all the interesting faults came my way which i succeeded with nearly all them. That department was heaven when you have an obsession in finding out how electronic systems work.”

- John, dyslexic Aspie from UK

· Sometimes the combination of AS & Dyslexia + living in a country where English is the primary language, can make things extra difficult since Aspies want things to be logical & consistent. The English language contains so many irregularities when it comes to spelling, grammar and pronouncing (depending on which language the word was originally imported from) that it can be very confusing, especially if you don’t know the history of each word.

“Another difficulty of my primary school is where dyslexia and Asperger meet such as the stupid way many words are spelt.

“Words such as ‘one’ (1), i all ways spelled it as ‘won’. No mater how many times the teacher would loose her temper or remind me how useless and hopeless i am, could get me to under stand why this word is spelt wrong. I spent many hours worrying why i was the only person who could not see how to get ‘o’ to sound like ‘w’.

“The meaning of the word gullible springs to mind, was i the only person who is not gullible,
or perhaps the teacher is wrong, or may be an alien was causing people to do strange things like what happened on star trek.

“I have got it, it was a printing error when the dictionaries was made, or what if it not that, maybe the teacher is right and that i am as stupid and thick like the teacher says i am, my mum says that i am a retard.”

- John, dyslexic Aspie from UK

HYPERLEXIA

I don’t really see the problem with so-called Hyperlexia. As already mentioned, it is very common for Aspies to be fascinated with words and many start reading long before they start school. If one starts very early, it is only natural that most effort first goes into the decoding while the actual content can be focused on later. How can it be a disorder to start reading early?? Isn’t it rather a sign of being gifted?

“Mom HATED the way some of the teachers were. One of them was MAD because i could read in kindergarten and she did not know what to do with me (and a couple other kids who could read, not quite as well as me though). She wanted to make us take the reading lessons even though we could read.

“Then they came out with this stupid thing called ITA. It was phonics but not good like Hooked on Phonics. It taught kids to spell things like they sound at first, then re-teach them the usual way. I think this caused lots of cases of so-called dyslexia.

“My folks, and the parents of the other readers did not think we needed this crap and petitioned that we not have to take it, but the school made us. They said they had no money for gifted students, and one teacher said i was 'eccentric' because i liked to talk to animals and read Shakespeare (in first grade). Nowadays many lawyers would have offered to sue the school pro bono, but back in the early '70's they were more worried about dress codes.”

- Kajira, adult Aspie

“But these kids behave oddly, are sensory hypersensitive, stim, and don’t learn social codes like other children,” some may say. Well, of course - they are probably little Asplings! Such behaviour is perfectly normal for ASD children and nothing to be alarmed over.

Dyspraxia

· Some on the Neurodiversity Spectrum have Developmental Dyspraxia, with poor fine- or gross motor skills, posture problems, coordination difficulties, lack of normal muscle tone, joints that are very stiff or overly flexible etc.

“My hands have little fine motor control, which makes handling small objects like needles rather difficult. There are other times when it just feels like my fingers are too big and don't want to cooperate. I used to enjoy building models, but it got too difficult after a while so I had to give it up. Catching is hit and miss with me. If you throw a ball or something, odds are I won't catch it.”

- William, adult Aspie from USA

“I am hyper-mobile, which has given me jaw problems. My oldest son is also hyper-mobile. He literally had his thumb in his palm and had to use braces to keep it at a straight angle.”

- Magnus, adult Aspie from Sweden

“I have problems with stiff muscles and joints which can become achy or painful, especially when it is cold or rainy.”

- Ilah, adult probable Aspie from USA

“I find it hard to stay upright without thinking about it all the time.”

- Emma, adult Aspie from Sweden

LEARNING STYLE

Although in reality it’s probably a bit more complex, learning style is thought to be connected to dominant brain hemisphere and dominant mode of processing information (auditory, visual or tactile). According to teacher and writer Carla Hannaford, we all tend to use both hemispheres, either alternately or simultaneously, but one of them is usually the dominant one; this is the hemisphere one a) falls back on during stress and b) tends to slip into as soon as one doesn’t have to use both. Knowing your dominant mode and learning style can be quite useful.

· Classical education, with a teacher giving lectures in which one fact is presented after another without the bigger picture first, and then giving timed tests to check how well those facts are memorised and how quickly and accurately they can be retrieved upon demand usually fits the left-brained auditory learner best.

· Hands-on workshop/apprenticeship types of learning may be good for the right-brained tactile learner.

· Auditory-tactile may need combination of vocal and tactile stimulation to learn best.

“Once I realized that my one son was best at auditory processing, especially if not having to look at the teacher, and could do something with his hands (helping the kinesthestic learning I realized he was also) I was able to better advocate for him so the teachers would not get upset with and think he was trying to cause trouble. I also took his study notes, in one subject, and had him record the notes and listen to them while doing other things. When testing came he scored above advanced in that area.”

- Ruth, adult Aspie from USA

· Right-brained visual learners often need the whole picture first and many images and diagrams etc. Some learn best from a combination of auditory, visual and tactile multimedia input. TV and the internet is often helpful for this type.

“I found something out about myself, as I am older and going for another degree. I found out I am what is called a Visual Learner. More than just being able to learn better from visual or hands-on, I will recall the page of my notes, or the small sketch I made, or the doodling I did to illustrate a concept. I even will recall in what order something is on a page, in order to remember it. I cannot just memorize text, or remember something abstractly. I have to code things out, even if I totally understand a concept. I could explain that concept in my own words, but if I am taking a test, and have to recall large amounts of information, I have to have a visualization in my mind. I have to be creative with science to learn it.

- ‘Pinksilk’, adult VSL

“i have to have pictures of things to understand them too. i cannot just hear what someone says and comprehend it. i have to create an image or draw it in me head or paper and then i can remember it. that is why i like to draw pictures and i like art. but i do not have to do that with numbers. they just automatically appear in me head and make sense for whatever reason.”

- Martka, adolescent HFA from Scotland

“I work best with a combination of verbal, visual, and writing styles. What I miss in one area is usually compensated by the others. I learn much quicker if there are graphs and pictures. I think in pictures, not words.”

- Miriam B., adult with SID from USA

MEMORY

· Some Aspies have extraordinary long-term memory, sometimes photographic memory or close to it, especially when it comes to memorising facts connected to one’s favourite special interests and recalling previously experienced events. Some have extra good visual-spatial memory, others may have extra good memory for numbers, etc.

“I have a photographic memory for everything audio, visual, smell, touch, or any other form of perception.”

- Kirsten, adult Aspie

“It is very easy for me to remember numbers; a bit too easy actually, as I have my head full of phone numbers, IP-addresses etc.”

- Tobias, adult Aspie from Sweden

“My memory is such that I can and do store and remember EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING. In terms of recall, it is like anyone else's. If there is nothing to jog the memory, then it's not there, but the second someone mentions something that reminds me of an event, I remember the event in its entirety, including smells, colors, touch and taste sensations. This holds true for any event. Not just traumatic ones. It's good when I recall experiences with women but bad when I remember bullies.”

“I tend to store data two different ways:

“1. In areas that I hold or have held an interest I have good short and long term recall with no inaccuracies or loss of data: I can draw from memory and accurately recite facts about the 37 species of wildcats, things I have read about the Vietnam War and World War II, and other random areas of interest. People have said that I am merely an encyclopaedia and doubt that I can actually understand or extrapolate the facts I have stored away, but that is untrue. I merely SOUND like an encyclopaedia because I see no sense on making concise facts that I have read and gathered LESS concise by adding commentary and supposition to them. I can and do contemplate the data that I take in, and some of the resulting ideas I have formed have been quite interesting.

“2. In areas that I am NOT interested in my brain tends to delete facts from short term memory right away, but I still can recall them from my mental file cabinet weeks, months, and years later as I would facts that I care about - provided someone else jogs my memory, and provided they link it somehow to a subject I find interesting.”

- Tom, adult Aspie from USA

· Many have memories from a much earlier age than considered normal or possible.

“Earliest memory when I was about three months. Verified it with several members of my family. Even details about the room were correct and couldn't have known that from photographs or something like that.”

- Lida, adult Aspie from the Netherlands

“I still have memories of being in my crib. I remember being laid down for a nap during the daytime and looking up at the light fixture in the center of the room. The sunlight would sparkle off of the glass fixture and if you squinted, you could see all the colors of the rainbow in one warm star-shaped formation. I used to pretend that by staring at it long enough, it would become a doorway into a fairyland that was full of flowers and green lawns. I would also climb out of my crib sometimes and crawl over to a white, painted dresser we had, crawl behind it (it sat diagonally in the corner across from the crib) and pick the paint off the back of it. To me there seemed nothing more enjoyable than picking those paint chips off the dresser.”

- Tom, adult Aspie from USA

“An early memory I have is when I’m lying in the pram and wondering why the leaves fall off the trees (this must have been in the autumn)..”

- ‘Missbutterfly’, adult Aspie from Sweden

· Short-term or working memory may be a lot poorer for many, as well as memory for social things, names, faces and subjects not connected to one’s special interests.

“I find that my long-term memory is incredibly accurate. It's that short-term immediate memory that's lacking to a large degree. However, the farther away I get from the day in question, the clearer the recollections are.”

- Raven, adult Aspie from Canada

“If I am not interested in something I can’t remember it. But for some reason small facts I remember that are not really important. While in school they used to have someone else take notes for me so that I could recall more of what was said instead of trying to do both and remembering nothing.”

- Nathan, adult Aspie from USA

“I have a bad memory. I even have trouble remembering my kids' birthdays. I forget names, faces, what I said, what someone else said, etc. But when I am in court, or when I am talking about a case with someone, or the law, I can remember everything almost verbatim. I remember when I was a child I could memorize the books I had read. It's almost like having a photographic memory.”

- Anne Marie. adult ADHD/Aspie attorney from USA

“Well, I usually have a very good memory for details on things like genetics, science, math, astronomy, but I am terrible for remembering names. It's not that I 'forget' so much as that I assign a wrong name to the person and it sticks in my mind and refuses to be replaced by the real name.”

- Kathy J, adult Aspie from USA

· Some have good memory but are unable to access it under pressure or stress. Though this may be true of anyone, Aspies and the Highly Sensitive often more easily get stressed and are therefore at an extra disadvantage.

“I think poor working memory is an effect of having been under pressure and demands for a long time, i.e. a stress-symptom. My working memory in social situations is practically non-existent. When I am able to disregard all the demands I feel on myself, my working memory usually functions perfectly. To get rid of all the stressful thoughts usually takes about three days.”

- Stefan, adult Aspie from Sweden

· Memory problems can sometimes be caused by physical disease or environmental triggers.

“After a migraine its like my memory pattern has had holes punched in it and it takes a few days for me to reweave things together.”
- Kathy J, adult Aspie from USA