Ok, thanks ElizabethN! That gives me some perspective on what DS might be doing.
The closest I can achieve is simultaneous translation, which is really only following one conversation in real time and with a lag (so not comparable), or being able to listen to an orchestral piece and then later hear the separate parts in my memory. The first is really just an auto dump of content from my working memory, the second just comes from the experience of knowing the different sounds of instruments and identifying them.
I'd like to understand DS' perspective to know how to treat the simultaneous conversations. (I've asked him and don't think he has the meta-knowledge to understand and explain what he's doing yet.) If he's getting value from multiple streams of input (and I'm not going insane in the process), I'll facilitate it at home while teaching turn taking with others.
At the moment, I stress the need to maintain eye contact with his interlocutors, which keeps him focused on the fact that the other person is focused on him. That way, he's also learning that if someone isn't making eye contact with him, they aren't guaranteed to be listening. But boy, is this an exasperating exercise, because I think DS thinks I can do what he does! That and a bifurcated tongue would massively increase my productivity!
