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    Originally Posted by ultramarina
    I'd be curious to know if anyone here has a child with this issue but feels entirely confident that ASD is not on the table. (My DD has a tendency towards literal thinking as well, though it's not nearly as pronounced as some kids' seems to be. It's also improved. She does not like to be joked with in this way, still, but recognizes that it is joking.)

    DD11 is quite literal, if not as extreme as some of the kids here, but I'm about 99 percent sure ASD is not an issue. She's very precise with language, and idioms tend to drive her nuts.

    She's one of those kids who will follow the letter of the law, but not necessarily the spirit, so we spend a lot of time detailing the exceptions and closing the loopholes for any of our rules.

    In addition, she frequently does her schoolwork twice, particularly for questions like "What do you think?" or "What would you do?" She'll answer with what she considers to be the *correct* answer first, and then she'll answer the way the teacher wants. (She only turns in the second set.)

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    My son is also quite literal and I am positive ASD is not a possibility. Like MidwestMom, our son follows the letter of the law but not necessarily the spirit. We have to detail exceptions, etc. He is precise with his language too.


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    I am thinking about this issue again because DD is occasionally struggling with reading comprehension worksheets. She had one the other day where the question was something like, "How would Jane's classmates have reacted if she decided to write a class newsletter that was accurate?" (Jane had written a newsletter full of lies.) The right answer was, "They would have thanked her." DD filled the right answer in, but was annoyed. "We don't know they would have thanked her. Who says? Just because she wrote things that were true?"

    Is that an overly literal child or a child protesting a stupid worksheet? I should mention that she came to me in frustration and said, "I don't know this one," and I sent her back to look at it again.

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    I'd also mention that I don't see her struggling with short answer questions, but she gets hung up on multiple choice when the right answer seems "stupid" to her. "Least worst" is hard for her.

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    Originally Posted by ultramarina
    I am thinking about this issue again because DD is occasionally struggling with reading comprehension worksheets. She had one the other day where the question was something like, "How would Jane's classmates have reacted if she decided to write a class newsletter that was accurate?" (Jane had written a newsletter full of lies.) The right answer was, "They would have thanked her." DD filled the right answer in, but was annoyed. "We don't know they would have thanked her. Who says? Just because she wrote things that were true?"

    I love this. She's an independent, critical thinker who sees beyond (and beneath and around) the expected superficial response. And she's right...

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    Originally Posted by ABQMom
    Ok ... what is PDD-NOS? smirk

    Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified...

    In the DSM-IV there are five disorders listed under "PDD": 1) Autism, 2) Asperger's 3) Rhett's 4) CDD (childhood disintegrative disorder, and 5) PDD-NOS. Basically if your child doesn't fit in one of the other four (Rhett's & CDD are very rare), then he/she could be diagnosed with PDD-NOS.

    (I'm studying this in school - we've just finished our Autism unit smile )

    My DS8 has been around the diagnostic roller coaster yet again, most recently to see one of our Provincial Autism specialists (psychiatrist who deals exclusively with ASD), who says that he is NOT on the spectrum. This I know, and have known, for years... he just doesn't have the necessary deficits with theory of mind or joint attention. He's... right beside the spectrum, but doesn't even meet the criteria for PDD-NOS (which is not really itemized in the DSM-IV... but whatever).

    Originally Posted by ultramarina
    I'd be curious to know if anyone here has a child with this issue but feels entirely confident that ASD is not on the table. (My DD has a tendency towards literal thinking as well, though it's not nearly as pronounced as some kids' seems to be. It's also improved. She does not like to be joked with in this way, still, but recognizes that it is joking.)

    My DS8 still very literal sometimes. He's outgrown much of this, but he still has to have expressions like "hang in there" or "hold your horses" explained to him. He has enough social savvy that he doesn't respond to these expressions in an atypical way, but if you ask him if he knows what they mean, he'll say "no, not really." He has a language processing disorder, which is also likely contributing to it all.

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    Originally Posted by ABQMom
    Tonight he was expressing how he didn't think he should have to be nice to a certain student at school who has been rather obnoxious to him. In frustration, I finally told him that I was really concerned about his attitude that he only had to be nice to kids that were nice to him - that life didn't work that way. He looked quite confused and said, "But that is what our principal has told us every day since kindergarten."

    That didn't sit quite right, so I asked him when the principal had said this. "Every morning at the end of announcements. He says, '... and remember, treat others the way you want them to treat you."

    I can't even count the number of times I have had this conversation with DS10! He feels exactly the same way about the Golden Rule, and nothing I ever say can dissuade him from thinking that's how it works.

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    My DD8 is also very literal and there is no ASD involvement. She also follows rules to the letter of the law. I am also a very literal person, my motto often times is: Say what you mean and mean what you say. So I understand where she is coming from although it can create misunderstandings/misperceptions about things. This is an area that we both struggle with knowing when and what to relax and laugh over. Working on projects with two literal people is not much fun! LOL

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    I am too, come to think of it. I get really annoyed at DH's vocab mishaps, and I pick apart things he says "THIS is what you said. If you meant THAT, you should have said THAT." (I think DS8 got his language processing disorder from his Dad... in an 8 year old it's tolerable, but in a 47 year old it's kind of frustrating). I'm not perfect either so I try to just let it go, but the literal side of me gets irritated.

    I've never had a problem with idioms or expressions of speech though.

    Last edited by CCN; 02/14/13 11:29 PM.
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    I'm not literal at all--I'm a born exaggerator/idiom-user. Poor DD.

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