My 5-Year-Old Son with Autism Speaks in Multiple Languages but Struggles with Conversation

[maleonolo]

The entire series of TOS. Also have the entire series of Battlestar Gallactica and many others.

Wow! That must be a lot. I've been converting everything to store in a HDD but I heard there will be a new type of DVD that can store 200,000GB of files

By the way, can you replay movies inside your head in native resolution? Sorry, since this thread is about language usage, can you replay conversations inside your head with the same intonation, cadence and pronunciation as the original?

 

[Judge]

Wow! That must be a lot. I've been converting everything to store in a HDD but I heard there will be a new type of DVD that can store 200,000GB of files

By the way, can you replay movies inside your head in native resolution? Sorry, since this thread is about language usage, can you replay conversations inside your head with the same intonation, cadence and pronunciation as the original?

Only bits and pieces at best.

I lost track of counting all the DVD titles I have somewhere around 375 or so. Though because of the size of my collection, I'm still using a 40 inch FHD Samsung tv to watch them in my living room.

 

[maleonolo]

@virtiw, welcome

This back-and-forth communication is referred to as "reciprocity", a common deficit in ASD. I also have this issue, but how it manifests itself is the "inability" to just naturally come up with things to talk about, with the exception of say, a special interest. I can stand up and lecture all day at the head of a classroom of students, but to sit across from someone and simply have a "normal" back-and-forth conversation, I really struggle, and if I try, it feels a bit "forced" and awkward. I simply cannot come up with appropriate "small talk" with anyone. If the other person wants to take the lead, I can respond, but there's another component. That is, I am not interested in people, and a lot of neurotypical conversation is about people. So, I am not interested in it. I, on the other hand, am interested in ideas and things, and most of the people around me are not. So, again, if I bring up a topic, they have nothing to add, and I can end up monologuing when it is not appropriate to do so. Group conversations are pretty much a "no-go" with me. I don't have the skills to know when to jump in and out of the conversation without it being an awkward, embarrassing mess. Sure, I can follow along in my head, but I can't get a word in, at all. The conversation tempo is typically too fast. By the time I do have something to add, the conversation has often moved on to another topic, so I just sit there quietly, smiling and nodding my head, following along, but not participating.

Maybe small talk has a criterion of being up-to-date on things most people like. I suppose if one liked everything one's peers enjoyed it would be easy to converse. Humans seem more interested in fitting in than allowing their own hobbies to develop. Social media also seems to have played a huge part in making everyone really similar

 

[Aspychata]

Wait was the data analysis/IT degree also from homeschooling?

Nope, she attended a performing arts high school, then on to uni. Her professor referred her to research dept in the same uni for a possible employment.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Maybe small talk has a criterion of being up-to-date on things most people like. I suppose if one liked everything one's peers enjoyed it would be easy to converse. Humans seem more interested in fitting in than allowing their own hobbies to develop. Social media also seems to have played a huge part in making everyone really similar

I am sure this is a contributing factor, but the reciprocity issues common to autism were present long before the internet and social media. I do agree that having something in common with the other person can and does often create an environment where a good conversation can develop, but on the other hand, as I suggested earlier, this rarely happens. Many of us suffer from a form of cognitive empathy issue sometimes called "mind blindness" where we simply cannot understand or relate to other people, and in some cases, creates confusion, distrust, and anxiety issues. In turn, leads to varying degrees of social aversion. So the idea of simply walking up to someone and picking up a friendly conversation, even if scripted, quickly becomes awkward and rather short, leaving the other person to quickly notice that something is "off" about us. Their amygdala's are triggered, and unconsciously, they pull back, shutting off any oxytocin that might create an interpersonal bond.

Further marginalization and isolation can occur with those of us with 130+ IQs. Roughly 50% of the population has an IQ less than 100 (average) and those 30 points are significant. The higher the intelligence, the progressively more isolating and lonely it becomes, and the less one has in common with people around them. Occasionally, I run across higher-intellect people at work, the rare folks that I would guess to be in the 150-170 IQ ranges, in my experience, 100% of them rarely verbalize unless specific questions are presented to them. They clearly do not internalize their world like lower intellect folks do. Their interests and priorities are different. They rarely elaborate on things because they are functioning at such a high level most people's eyes simply glaze over, and when they see it happening, they cut the conversation off. They are socially awkward and emotionally disconnected in many ways. Other people erroneously label them with a derogatory moral diagnosis. It's difficult.

I have seen interviews with genius-level intelligences and when asked, "What is it like being you?" Most will say something like, "You wouldn't want to be me." "My mind is a storm."

 

[maleonolo]

I am sure this is a contributing factor, but the reciprocity issues common to autism were present long before the internet and social media. I do agree that having something in common with the other person can and does often create an environment where a good conversation can develop, but on the other hand, as I suggested earlier, this rarely happens. Many of us suffer from a form of cognitive empathy issue sometimes called "mind blindness" where we simply cannot understand or relate to other people, and in some cases, creates confusion, distrust, and anxiety issues. In turn, leads to varying degrees of social aversion. So the idea of simply walking up to someone and picking up a friendly conversation, even if scripted, quickly becomes awkward and rather short, leaving the other person to quickly notice that something is "off" about us. Their amygdala's are triggered, and unconsciously, they pull back, shutting off any oxytocin that might create an interpersonal bond.

Further marginalization and isolation can occur with those of us with 130+ IQs. Roughly 50% of the population has an IQ less than 100 (average) and those 30 points are significant. The higher the intelligence, the progressively more isolating and lonely it becomes, and the less one has in common with people around them. Occasionally, I run across higher-intellect people at work, the rare folks that I would guess to be in the 150-170 IQ ranges, in my experience, 100% of them rarely verbalize unless specific questions are presented to them. They clearly do not internalize their world like lower intellect folks do. Their interests and priorities are different. They rarely elaborate on things because they are functioning at such a high level most people's eyes simply glaze over, and when they see it happening, they cut the conversation off. They are socially awkward and emotionally disconnected in many ways. Other people erroneously label them with a derogatory moral diagnosis. It's difficult.

I have seen interviews with genius-level intelligences and when asked, "What is it like being you?" Most will say something like, "You wouldn't want to be me." "My mind is a storm."

I think I would want to be them. I mean being autistic I'm already lonely. I don't know what it's like to be smart and I know there's such a thing as being twice exceptional but it would just be great being able to coast by without trying in at least one subject. Geniuses (non spiky) likely compete with others of the same calibre while chasing the peaks, but I think if they're just trying to earn a modest wage in some field in demand it would be easy. Loneliness is a small price to pay in the age of science and global competition