Autism and Memory

Worth reading Daniel Tammet's "Born on a Blue Day" Hodder & Stoughton 2006 (ISBN 0 340 89974 3  this number will help a bookshop or library track it down).

He also has a website http://www.danieltammet.net/  and has a new book out "Thinking in Numbers"

We don't get over things well, so deeply felt experiences will tend to stick in the memory, and will continue to hurt disproprtionately.

But this memory capacity is important, and potentially a major compensation and asset if properly exercised and utilised. I think the big mistake about current treatment of children on the spectrum is to focus on cure, beating them up to make them conform to NT, rather than develop real potential.

So many parents complain on here about their children spending too much time on the computer. Well computer technology is going to be here for the foreeable and beyond. It is more than likely to form a significant part of their lives.

Rather than trying to stop it, parents ought to look at ways of developing it, by helping their children find applications for this enthusiasm with more practical application with an inevitable trade off between comfort zone and usefulness.

I know things can be hard for parents if not so computer literate or find it hard to take in the detail of what your kids are in to. But it might be worth investing in some tutorials by people with the appropriate expertise. 

But it is not just computing, I have a highly visual memory which helps me store information three-dimensionally and has enabled me to benefit in many ways from having an edge over NTs. Others may be more artistic, or good at languages.

The social communication, organisational and environmental aspects of this condition ain't fun, and it is a lonely one, but for goodness sake parents should try harder to look for positives. Anything that presents as a developable skill is something to make the best of.

Worth reading Daniel Tammet's "Born on a Blue Day" Hodder & Stoughton 2006 (ISBN 0 340 89974 3  this number will help a bookshop or library track it down).

He also has a website http://www.danieltammet.net/  and has a new book out "Thinking in Numbers"

We don't get over things well, so deeply felt experiences will tend to stick in the memory, and will continue to hurt disproprtionately.

But this memory capacity is important, and potentially a major compensation and asset if properly exercised and utilised. I think the big mistake about current treatment of children on the spectrum is to focus on cure, beating them up to make them conform to NT, rather than develop real potential.

So many parents complain on here about their children spending too much time on the computer. Well computer technology is going to be here for the foreeable and beyond. It is more than likely to form a significant part of their lives.

Rather than trying to stop it, parents ought to look at ways of developing it, by helping their children find applications for this enthusiasm with more practical application with an inevitable trade off between comfort zone and usefulness.

I know things can be hard for parents if not so computer literate or find it hard to take in the detail of what your kids are in to. But it might be worth investing in some tutorials by people with the appropriate expertise. 

But it is not just computing, I have a highly visual memory which helps me store information three-dimensionally and has enabled me to benefit in many ways from having an edge over NTs. Others may be more artistic, or good at languages.

The social communication, organisational and environmental aspects of this condition ain't fun, and it is a lonely one, but for goodness sake parents should try harder to look for positives. Anything that presents as a developable skill is something to make the best of.