I was interested when people who are ASD 2 and others were discussing functionality, especially when people were contrasting their challenges IRL as opposed to their verbal skills online, and people were discussing many challenges to how they can practically function as opposed to apparent verbal and thinking abilities. @Ella Spell posted a visual test result showing a skewed picture of attributes, which seemed relevant.
I self diagnose as ASD 1, and I have a skewed experience whereby verbal and thinking processes, whilst having some challenges, such as slow processing, seem more functional than some areas that require physical coordination or other elements of functionality than verbal. Struggling to express this, hence the thread, as I wonder what others would say about how this works for them? I know there's plenty on here very handy and physically skilled so it's clearly not not necessarily about a thinking / doing split, exactly, and I can get good at 'doing' things, particularly if explicitly shown the movements involved.
An example for me of how this difference can manifest, would be, my friend wants me to help carry an item of shelving. We pick it up, but I realise it's heavier than I thought. I have to put it down, and my thinking is telling me that I can manage it if we lay it down and carry it longways instead of vertical. I intuit that will spread the load. But my friend is getting frustrated and calling out instructions. Albeit my friend has full on ADHD so that's part of the challenge here. My friend starts grabbing the item and dragging it and calling out orders of where I should stand etc but I can't respond easily because I can't tell if they know what I meant about it being too heavy upright, hence I want a slower, clear verbal interaction (but somehow we did soon lay it down and I could help carry it that way, as I had thought.)
However, thinking about this typical incident I was realising how what I seemed to need was for the process of carrying the item to stop, and a verbal exchange to take place, where I said my suggestion, and my friend understood it and then the carrying recommenced, I needed words to be involved. Stress clearly also played a part. We got there anyway, because I can allow for the ADHD and they had heard my suggestion.
I'd be interested if anyone's got thoughts about this or examples about practical functioning issues and how it relates to thinking or verbalising?
I self diagnose as ASD 1, and I have a skewed experience whereby verbal and thinking processes, whilst having some challenges, such as slow processing, seem more functional than some areas that require physical coordination or other elements of functionality than verbal. Struggling to express this, hence the thread, as I wonder what others would say about how this works for them? I know there's plenty on here very handy and physically skilled so it's clearly not not necessarily about a thinking / doing split, exactly, and I can get good at 'doing' things, particularly if explicitly shown the movements involved.
An example for me of how this difference can manifest, would be, my friend wants me to help carry an item of shelving. We pick it up, but I realise it's heavier than I thought. I have to put it down, and my thinking is telling me that I can manage it if we lay it down and carry it longways instead of vertical. I intuit that will spread the load. But my friend is getting frustrated and calling out instructions. Albeit my friend has full on ADHD so that's part of the challenge here. My friend starts grabbing the item and dragging it and calling out orders of where I should stand etc but I can't respond easily because I can't tell if they know what I meant about it being too heavy upright, hence I want a slower, clear verbal interaction (but somehow we did soon lay it down and I could help carry it that way, as I had thought.)
However, thinking about this typical incident I was realising how what I seemed to need was for the process of carrying the item to stop, and a verbal exchange to take place, where I said my suggestion, and my friend understood it and then the carrying recommenced, I needed words to be involved. Stress clearly also played a part. We got there anyway, because I can allow for the ADHD and they had heard my suggestion.
I'd be interested if anyone's got thoughts about this or examples about practical functioning issues and how it relates to thinking or verbalising?