Language and autism

I don’t know if you have ever noticed but it happens to me, time and again with both Kevin and Johnathan.  They simply don’t understand what is being said because of the context it is in (or I’m not logical enough).

We had quite a taste of this and because the words made absolutely no sense to Johnathan when they were said to him, I explained exactly what was meant.  Kevin was on the side of “he needs to be able to use the same language as others, so I’m going to use the words they do” whereas I am more on the side of “tell him what it means so that he truly understands you.”

Don’t get me wrong, he is seriously bright and knows more than me in, oh, err, Japanese at least, for example.  But that doesn’t mean he will truly comprehend the meaning of all language terms that are vague and not logical to him.  They simply don’t make sense, so why should he do them?

Some things he finds easier to talk to me about and others to his father.  It is good that we have such a loving child.  He loves affectionate things.  He has a room almost filled with plushies and is now planning on making some collections.  Although this isn’t necessarily a LANGUAGE issue, it IS also sensory and needs to make sense to him both in language and sensory terms.

TREASURE

Kevin and I both have a great relationship with Johnathan and we work in different ways with him but always looking for understanding and knowledge.