Filling out job applications for my 16 year old son, who has Aspergers, is a new experience for each different format we come across. I have to go through each section with him and explain which fields to leave blank and sometimes assist with an explanation of the information being requested. Since Ryan has an excellent memory, on one I tried going through the entire form ahead of time and pointed to the blanks where he needed to write nothing. Bad choice of words on my part! When he was finished, there were blanks filled out like: College -- "Nothing"; Technical School -- "Nothing; Special Skills -- "Nothing".
When will I ever learn to beware of his literal understanding of our language. It is times like this that I am glad Ryan has a good sense of humor, because I couldn't hide my giggles on this one. There were times when this type of miscommunication frustrated me and him. We find it much more theraputic to laugh about it and enjoy the differences.
My son has really struggled
My son has really struggled to learn that words can have more than one meaning (polysemy). His natural understanding of a meaning of the word was usually the first meaning he learned (which is most often, but not always, the literal one). Over time, he has learned to adapt his usage of some words and his actually quite a philosopher (although this skill is something that will probably never come naturally to him). I have always had a tendency to use a lot of metaphors and puns, so I think he just had to adapt eventually to understand me at all half of the time. After he got older and his language skills became more developed, I would explain puns to my son (drawing them out if I had too), and then share in the giggle. He can be a little slow on the uptake, which affects him in social situations, but he is catching the punch line more and more frequently as he gets older.
That is cute. Michael has
That is cute. Michael has learned a few differences with literal meanings. But rarely does he follow them. I think when it comes time to have him fill out things like that I will teach him the steps I used when I filed my first taxes at age 16. I wrote everything down on a sheet of paper and figured it all on that before I could put a wrong answer on something. I have done that on an application that confused me once. I hope it can help Michael if he ever gets to the point where he can work and such.
Oh man, my son nails me on
Oh man, my son nails me on this one so many times. I've caught on to it some but my wife is a sucker for it many times. He's only 5 and he's teaching us literal meanings all the time. It's time for bed Nick. No it's time to brush my teeth. Well yeah that is part of the bed time rutine. No Brush my teeth, put on PJ's, get into bed, and kiss mommy and daddy. Bah!!!
Scyllas... the master runaway kid catcher.