Clocks...

[Fantasia]

I learned to read long before I started school, however, my mathematical abilities lagged way behind. Most notably, I cannot handle time. I was 12 before I could read a clock face. I still get hopelessly flummoxed by train and bus timetables. If you ask me to wait ten minutes, I will literally stare at the clock the whole time, because I have no natural concept of ten minutes. Ten or twenty feels the same to me.

Is this an Aspie trait? I assume I have some form of dyscalculia. (Although my parents, true to form, insist I am merely 'lazy'.)

 

[Major Tom]

I sometimes have whole days go by and then I sit and wonder what happened.. This turned into years and now I'm 40 somehow ... I know what you are talking about in my own way. I do and can follow time tables when I'm at work, but when I'm off, the time just slides by.

 

[JDShredds]

I'm not entirely sure, though I do know there are some correlations to this kind of pattern. This is all still in the process of being understood by the diagnostic community.

I was a bit of the inverse. I was abnormally advanced with mathematics and numbers, but I believe my parents said I started to read later than normal (though I did pick it up well once I did, just in time for school).

Sense of time, though. That one just causes me stress. I have to set alarms/reminders all the time just because if I don't, I'll sit around staring at the clock, stressed that I'll completely forget whatever I am supposed to be awaiting. How can one be aware of time and also do tasks in the meantime? If something is scheduled for the near future, I damn near shut down until it arrives.

Needless to say, school attendance was a problem, and having work as an adult an even bigger problem. I have to structure my days consistently to accommodate.

Last note: Ugh, parents and the "lazy" excuse. I'm way too familiar with that crap. Your child is unusual in some way? Must be lazy.

Talk about intellectually lazy...

P.S. I love your avatar. It all of a sudden made your screen name crystal clear.

 

[Mia]

Is this an Aspie trait? I assume I have some form of dyscalculia. (Although my parents, true to form, insist I am merely 'lazy'.)

It seems to be a co-morbid variation from some individuals with autism. Have dyscalcula as well as a form of dyslexia. Numbers usually are reversed and sometimes letters. So I have to check and recheck them. Autism, PDD-NOS & Asperger's fact sheets | Dyscalculia, a co-morbid disorder associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders

As for clock faces, I'm quite similar in finding them difficult to read and have to count when it's past the hour, in fives to be able to tell the time. Don't actually see them in the right manner, eventually bought a watch with roman numerals instead of standard numbers, which makes me more comfortable, as I learned roman numerals before I went to school. Am similar with the abilities of reading and writing, which were well advanced before kindergarten.

My concept of time is different, I can usually ascertain ten minutes, thirty minutes and onward without a clock. And its close enough that there is little difference in the accuracy if a time piece is used. I often count in my mind, and add or divide things up, or keep a running total if I need to.

 

[Fino]

Yes, time is very confusing! I do the same things at the same time every day, otherwise chaos ensues.

 

[GrownupGirl]

I was like that, too! I don't think I was able to read and understand non-digital clocks well until I was maybe 13 years old. Also adults would confuse me even more by saying something like "it's half-past eight" instead of 8:30, and back then I didn't know those were the same thing, which makes me feel pretty dumb. And yet I could read and write well even when I was really young.

I had a really bad time seeing things literally from other people's perspective. And that's why I would get confused from other people telling me left from right, or when they tried to teach me to tie my shoes. I think I was 9 or 10 by the time I finally learned to tie my shoes.

 

[tlc]

I had a really bad time seeing things literally from other people's perspective. And that's why I would get confused from other people telling me left from right, or when they tried to teach me to tie my shoes. I think I was 9 or 10 by the time I finally learned to tie my shoes.

I had a hard time tying shoes, buttoning shirts and pants. I still end up getting it crooked or missing a button quite often. Up until I was about 7 used to have to lay my coat on the floor and lay down to put it on.

I am pretty good at time though. I'm usually pretty close when I guess the time of day or how much time has passed in a day. Back in my late teens I could start a drive that was nearly 2 hours long and predict when I would be there, and I would always be +/- 1 minute. That was before phones or GPS. I considered it spatial ability.

 

[Aspychata]

l remember having a hard time understanding time when l was younger, and feeling stupid, yet l can remember strange patterns in numbers , etc. Like u may be hindered in one area, but u will have a totally cool trait in something else.

 

[oregano]

I am always afraid that if I do anything close to say a scheduled appointment, that I will totally forget the appt. I have to make doctor's appts and such in the morning or else I will forget all about them because I am doing something else. I have to block out an hour or two before the appt and keep checking the clock until it is time to go, or I will miss it. I have to keep appt cards on my nightstand so I won't forget the appts.

I have a hard time with "regular" clocks as well, most of mine (and yes I have maybe a half dozen) are "digital" as they're called in the US. Even my watch is digital, and people don't understand why I don't just use my cell phone to keep time. I have to have an LED clock by my bed so I will always know what time it is even at night, and this clock wakes me in the morning. Even my own mom whines that I should use the alarm on my phone. LED clocks are gradually going out of production as everybody uses phones for alarms now, and I'm worried that when my current LED clocks die that I won't be able to find new ones.

 

[SusanLR]

I keep an LED clock by my bed also. It is easy to read when I wake up in the night.
I don't have trouble with knowing time though.
In fact I have a unique and helpful ability of not even needing an alarm.
How it works, I don't know, but, when I go to bed, I must look at the clock and think of the time
I need to wake up. It's as if I can set my brain as an alarm and I will wake at the time I set my mind
to before I fall asleep.
I've never had to use an alarm because of this odd ability.

As a baby my Mom said I liked to play with watches and small wind up clocks.
Somehow they fascinated me.

 

[Fantasia]

From Mia's linked article:

POTENTIAL SYMPTOMS OF DYSCALCULIA
• Frequent difficulties with numbers
I sometimes switch numbers around, can never remember dates, and screw up simple sums
• Confusing the signs: +, -, ÷ and x
No.
• Inability to say which of two numbers is the larger
No.
• Unusual reliance on counting fingers
Yes.
• Difficulty with everyday tasks ie. checking change and reading clocks
Yes.
• Inability to comprehend financial planning or budgeting
No.
• Difficulty with times-tables
Yes.
• Difficulty with conceptualizing time and judging the passing of time
Yes.
• Problems differentiating between left and right
No.
• Having a poor sense of direction
Particularly when I was younger. As an adult, I fear getting lost, but cope well.
• Having difficulty estimating the distance of an object
No. I have good spatial awareness, when I am not overwhelmed with info.
• Inability to grasp mathematical concepts and rules
I actually have advanced qualifications in maths and statistics.
• Difficulty keeping score during games.
Yes. Though possibly because I am too excited, haha.

 

[Progster]

I don't have difficulty with reading traditional analogue clocks. If anything, it's digital clocks I have difficulty with. I'm a visual thinker and analogue clocks are a visual respresentation of time, easy to understand for me.

 

[Fantasia]

I have difficulty with both analogue and digital clocks. 24 hour time or otherwise is tricky for me. There's no happy answer for me when it comes to clocks.

 

[wight]

I venture that clocks are confusing because they are a mix of base 12 and base 10 numbering systems. But the entire calendar/clock methodology is based on really old ways of counting time. 12 months because there are 12 lunar cycles per year. 12 bones in the fingers (3 in each), so you can count to any factor or multiple of 12 using just your fingers up to 60, which is why (I think) there are 60 minutes in an hour.

Anyway, reading clocks aside. Being aware of time passing is such a fluid thing for the human brain that it doesn't surprise me that many people have problems with it. Aspie or otherwise. If you are busy, time goes fast. If you are not busy, time goes slow. We (humans) don't really have an internal objective sense of time, so we are at the mercy of subjectivity.

 

[Gracey]

Over the years I’ve built this up.

Practicing repeatedly in various jobs among other things,
(Like teaching my own children to read time and quantities of ... whatever)

I also believe I can sometimes think in images.
So If I can recall a memory of a quantity of something, I can compare it with what’s in front of me.
(If I concentrate)

That said, if in one particular moment reading the time on a watch or clock face isn’t happening easily or quickly enough,
(Like being asked for the time by someone)

I’ll switch; in my head, to something I can remember.

Quite difficult to explain

A stranger asks for the time, I glance at my watch,

The time is 25 minutes past 1 in the afternoon.

It’s taking too long to check and count up the 5 minute markers,
The person is waiting...

Flip it to a fraction ?
Clockface in two equal halves of 30 mins each.
A straight line from 12 to 6 provides the divider.

One shaded section of 5 mins away from a complete 30 = 25.


I can see that faster than systematically counting up the sections of five minutes to arrive at 25.

 

[Fantasia]

Hah. That reminds me of several occasions where, when asked for the time, I literally show the person my watch. Apparently even when I know the time, I don't articulate it well, because I often get confused looks. Just show them the watch.

 

[Tom]

Don't join the military. You have to keep track of regular local time, military (or European 24 hr time) and then Zulu Time which is a 24 clock fixed to one point so its the same everywhere all the time.

I liked how people wore Sun Dial wristwatches in the Flintstones.

 

[Fantasia]

Well I'm accustomed to European 24 hour time and GMT / UTC is indeed the same everywhere...
But ask me to calculate a different time zone by adding 8 hours and I'm all whuuuuuuut...
I really don't like the base 12 system.

 

[Sarah S]

i remember my dear mother had a living ............ to get to learn time ,Tying my choose and it took a LOONG time before they (with ALOT of patience managed to get me to learn this)

I actually have among my gazillion side diagnosis this diagnose

Heres my answers on this

="Fantasia, post: 599209, member: 21880"]From Mia's linked article:

POTENTIAL SYMPTOMS OF DYSCALCULIA
• Frequent difficulties with numbers
I sometimes switch numbers around, can never remember dates, and screw up simple sums
Same you and Oh Yes

• Confusing the signs: +, -, ÷ and x
Yes
• Inability to say which of two numbers is the larger
Yes when i was younger

• Unusual reliance on counting fingers
OH yes & also calculator

• Difficulty with everyday tasks ie. checking change and reading clocks
Yes when younger

• Inability to comprehend financial planning or budgeting
Yes when younger to late adult (ie say 30 in my case when i got support from my DEAR friend and managed to understand this BUT still have full support when needed )

• Difficulty with times-tables
Yes all my life

• Difficulty with conceptualizing time and judging the passing of time
OH yes

• Problems differentiating between left and right
more when i was young

• Having a poor sense of direction
new places OH yes wouldn't make it without my GPS once ive been there one time less problems

• Having difficulty estimating the distance of an object
No.

• Inability to grasp mathematical concepts and rules
Me math NAA im more or less still at say 3- 5th grade according to tests

• Difficulty keeping score during games.
Yes.

This are my answers and based on ALL my diagnosis

 

[Pats]

I also had such a hard time learning to read clocks and was so happy when digital clocks came out. But now I love clock faces and studying them. I remember once I would wear a watch and had a habit of looking at it, just to see the clock face - not to tell the time, because I would have to figure that part out separately. lol But once I was at work (working at a dry cleaners) and it was slow and boring and I probably was looking at my watch every five minutes, if not more often. My boss got mad and said he hated when people watched the clock for time to go home. I had to explain to him that if he were to ask me, I wouldn't even be able to tell him the time after looking at my watch. lol Military time was also hard for me to grasp, but once I finally did, I like it.