Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Literal Interpretations

My dd5 too. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up-- a man! Will never dress up for Halloween. He is better now and uses "expressions", but he always has to follow up his statement by saying, "that's just an expression".
I expect they outgrow it over time as they learn deeper vocab usage and nuance...and I imagine every kid has a slightly different starting point and ending point, but mine did seem to start out more literal than other kids. He didn't want to be anything for Halloween, because he didn't want to turn into that thing. I always thought it was interesting...but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Why wouldn't we say just what we mean?

My guess is it's just an age thing, because the way we communicate with each other is terribly complicated, and it takes a significant amount of time to learn the nuances. For example:

1) We expect people to pick up things unsaid due to context. Young children don't have enough contextual exposure to guess them correctly.

2) One of the great difficulties of learning the English language is the heavy use of idioms and slang. We often say one thing and mean another.

Some of these examples in this thread, IMO, reflect these challenges. Like, when the teacher said, "I'm not going to help you," she left it to the child to assume that "on this task" was implied but unsaid.

In combination with other social skills challenges, this kind of literal thinking is commonly found in people who have autism spectrum disorders.

But having this trait alone is NOT diagnostic of autism.

DeeDee

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 son has several strong Aspergers traits, but the psychiatrist has ruled out autism and specifically Aspergers. He says some traits can also be present in individuals with high IQ's who don't have Aspergers.. What he said was a good litmus test is if the traits get better or worse over time. If they get better over time, it usually isn't Aspergers. Not that individuals with Aspergers can't gain coping skills, but the core of traits remain.

This goes against the grain of both our experience and what our professionals tell us. For some people, with intervention, the noticeable traits of autism become much less evident to other people over time. (Which is not to say that they become "not autistic.")

http://jerobison.blogspot.com/2013/01/can-we-outgrow-autism.html

DeeDee

I'm glad you posted, DeeDee. It was what we were told, and he has a lot more training than I do, but it didn't quite sit right with me either,

The other day I was watching a rerun of the season of America's Next Top Model where one of the contestants had Aspergers. It was interesting to see how the other women in the house became so impatient with her and she just could not understand why. At one point they were all packing their suitcases and someone said to her "Heather if you stood up for one second I could get my suitcase by you." The girl just sort of nodded and kept right on packing while the other girls all exchanged exasperated looks. Finally someone said "Heather can you stand up for one minute." I thought to myself -Bingo! Perfect example of literal thinking and the need for direct requests. The first statement was simply an observation but the second was a request with which she immediately complied. Seen as the same thing in "typical" conversation but 2 totally different messages to this young woman. If someone - teacher or peer - doesn't understand this basic concept your literal thinker is likely to be labeled rude or uncooperative or inappropriate even if that is not their intent.

ABQMom, have you considered getting a second opinion? Gifted kids are obviously very difficult to make a call on, particularly if they are quite borderline, but your son seems to be having a lot of difficulties.

Pemberly my DD is (generally) not so literal that she rings alarm bells for most people (a lot of the very extreme examples they give of literalness in books on ASD she would not do), but she is CONSTANTLY having those subtle communication failures that lead to people being irritated, frustrated, etc. She seems like she is being deliberately obtuse, cheeky, stupid, or some other negative attribute, when she simply doesn't get it. We ourselves missed how much of our difficulty in parenting her came from these more subtle issues of literal thinking.

You know I was about to say that if I said to her:"you need to put yourself in someone else's shoes" she wouldn't say "Why would I want to do that?" But now that I think about it I wonder if she doesn't get it, but does have enough of a clue to not reveal that she doesn't get it. Maybe her literalness is worse even than we realise. The more we have understood what to look for the more often DH and I give each other the look about her communication misfires.

Mumofthree- this is actually our third opinion. No to ADD, ADHD, Aspergers from all three. Yes to auditory processing disorder, fine motor developmental disorder, dysgraphia, dyslexia, and to some specific Aspie traits.