Keinnaf, I am interested to hear more description of how the problem manifests in real life (or is it even noticeable?)
My father exhibited something similar to what Pemberley describes; constantly referring to things as 'that thingy' despite being a brilliant engineer. Kind of drove my verbally-over-the-top mom nuts.
Not sure it ever slowed him down, maybe socially, but otherwise I did not notice any inability to communicate and do what he wanted, read huge books, etc.
My ds13, has something else going on, not quite the same but maybe related to categorization of data in the brain.
The psychologist who did a big battery of tests with him called it more of an 'odd wiring' of the brain rather than a definite disability. Ds will often use a word in the weirdest way. But this applies also to physical things; even simple things like sweeping, how to hold the broom (which angle to hold it at, which direction to pull in) seem to be things he needs to have someone show him.
This is despite picking up many abstract concepts quite quickly, almost by osmosis.
All these words/word combinations which most people take, pigeonhole, and never think twice about, he seems to leave open ended, perhaps lightly associated with something but not 'nailed down'.
It is less obvious as he grows, so probably he is 'nailing down' more of these things where he thought there were possible choices he now knows there really aren't as many options.
In particular adjective+preposition combos (surprised by, excited about) still seem to trip him up a bit. He might say something like "I was excited to that". (I am the verbally over the top person being driven nuts in this case.)
