Published on 12, July, 2020
My daughter is 6 and has been referred for an autism assessment by the SENCO at school. One major trait which everyone sees is her "literal thinking".
Some examples:
- "I don't need an 'extra hand' I already have 2."
- "I've counted 60 seconds and you're not ready, so you 'lied' about 'in n a minute'."
- "Everyone in the world doesn't have a bookbag so how can 'everyone' bring their bookbags in tomorrow?"
Etc...
Now I'm not disputing that she may be autistic, it's been on my radar for a while as her Dad is autistic, she flaps her hands/stims, it is very difficult to have a conversation with her that doesn't become tangential and she has no filter and is extremely blunt! But to me the literalness seems like cheekiness a lot of the time. She knows when you ask her what is meant by 'do you need a hand?' etc by she still comments literally every time.
Is there a line? I would have expected her not to understand the meaning if this was truly an autistic trait, and I'm not sure how to deal with it right now. Does anyone have any advice? Does anyone or their child react the same even though they do have an understanding of the intended meaning? I'm struggling a bit to understand.
Thank you
She has literal thinking and developed what she feels is a rational response, you didn't say what you mean. Non-autistic children and adults are better at getting the gist of a statement or request, and not question aspects of it, or feel wronged.
She might learnt to accept the gist of things, but might need help with it - reminders that 'wait a minute' doesn't mean an exact minute.
You could write down a whole load of phrases that aren't meant literally and then go through now and then, guide her that she should just get the idea of the message and not worry about it being exact.
My dad once took me with him to visit someone, but told me he was going to see a man about a dog, so that was what i was expecting when we got there. He also said swallows had no legs and had to balance on a telephone wire rather than land in tree. I took that literally, though I had doubt that was literal.
She has started to realise that 'do you need a hand' doesn't mean literally need another hand, but her response is programmed to question it still as she doesn't know another way to deal with literal phrases. Taking things literally is automatic, its learning to realise some things aren't mean literally, and others are. It might take her a while by herself, but if guided she might get there more quickly.
I can still get caught out by taking things as literal, but usually second guess fairly quickly though not always.