Help with elapsed time...

[OneStepAtATime]

OLD THREAD:

 

O.k. everyone was great pitching in to help me help DD understand measuring to the quarter inch.  She is doing really well with that now and thankfully CLE does a lot of review before moving on so retention shouldn't be an issue (not sure how it will all go with measuring to the 8th and 16 inch, but I now have more tools in the arsenal when we get there thanks to you all).

 

So now I need help with elapsed time.  She does not sense the passage of time and has trouble with word processing and retrieval so all the terms get her confused to begin with.  Couple that with a lack of time sense and clocks don't have a lot of meaning for her.  She definitely can READ a clock now.  But it is just a bunch of symbols with no meaning.  Therefore, half an hour pretty much feels the same to her as 2 hours and determining elapsed time also really has little conceptual meaning.  Any suggestions for the math side of this equation?  Although we are working on the concept of time actually passing in specific measurable increments, it is the math end that I need help with.  She does best with visual and kinesthetic, not a lot of verbal/auditory.

 

UPDATE IN POST #33...

Edited February 21, 2017 by OneStepAtATime

[Lecka]

From when I had "Teach Me Language" borrowed, there was a section with ideas.  

 

It had some pages that were multiple choice questions, and they would be like, "How long does it take to get dressed?  About 5 minutes, about 30 minutes, about an hour, about a day?"  This program started with memorizing some information, not necessarily really grasping it, and then moving form there to learning new information.  So -- it would have you go over the same worksheet for a few days, until they could get the answers, even if they were memorized.  Then the next worksheet -- maybe they think "well, if getting dressed took about 5 minutes, maybe brushing my teeth is closer to 5 minutes than to an hour."  Even if -- as you are answering the questions, you are not answering them b/c you know the elapsed time -- it is more just starting to associate times with some common things.  This is supposed to be a start.  

 

It also had visual sequencing, and for some things you might sequence pictures of clocks with different times.  

 

Using a model (like a number line but with pictures of clocks), you would practice answering questions like "is 2:00 earlier or later than 4:00?"  We are assuming in this book, that it is going to be hard to use the words earlier and later, without specific practice.  You would start with a visual support and then move to the same kinds of questions without a visual support.  

 

Can your daughter do heavier/lighter -- can she say which of two very obvious objects are heavier or lighter, and say "a little" or "a lot" or "very" and those kinds of things?  Can she do it with temperature (hot, cold, hotter, colder)?  If she can with those things but is getting confused with times, you could make a visual model of hot (with a temperature and representative picture) and move over to cold.  If she sees she can do it with hot and cold, maybe it can transfer to times.  Again -- not for the feeling of elapsed time, but it would try to make the concept more concrete.  

 

I also think you might try to time some daily activities for a while, and start to see how long things take.  Can she tell that it takes longer to do something that is pretty long, than to do something that is pretty short?  If she can -- that is something maybe she can build on.  

 

My son's therapist likes to use an electric kitchen timer, that costs about $10 or so, and we have one.  We use it as a timer for how long something lasts, and as a countdown timer.  She may prefer something else or you might be fine with a microwave or oven timer for some things.  

 

Also, if you make a plan together, you can both guess how long things will take.  Then, go back and compare, and see how long things really took.  

 

Is there a real-life connection?  Is she late for things b/c she doesn't give herself enough time to get ready?  Do things take longer than she expects?  I think those are things to work on.  

 

I am not sure what other real-life applications there are -- but whatever you have noticed, I would focus on those.

 

I really don't know -- I just read a book with a big section on sequencing.  It was written for high-functioning autism, so it was written to use a lot of visuals.  My son is still on the calendar section, understanding morning/afternoon/evening, understanding seasons, etc.  They are all in the same chapter with time and sequencing.  Can your daughter think through the year and think about some of the major holidays and when they are happening through the year?  However she does that -- if she can feel herself have some strategy she uses -- that may be a strategy that she can use with other passages of time.  Can she think about if there is a long time between the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, compared to the amount of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas?  If she can, maybe she has a strategy.  

 

I think some people may just memorize the amounts of time that various activities take, and then know that is how long they take, when they plan things.  I don't think everyone who uses this book is expected to have the better grasp of time.  But -- I think maybe that is good enough to be able to plan a schedule and get places on time and get things done on time?  When they are fairly known/experienced things -- maybe not for brand new things?  It is my impression.  Or - -maybe later on it clicks more, but not during the time it is taught.  

 

Those are some ideas I got from that book, though.  I think those are the highlights you might be interested in from it.  I read through that chapter a few times, there are a lot of ideas in it for my younger son.  

[Wishes]

Here's a link of a way to solve elapsed time story problems. I used it with some of m Autistic kiddoes and it worked well.

 

http://www.zooktutoring.com/a-visual-way-to-solve-elapsed-time-problems/

[OneStepAtATime]

From when I had "Teach Me Language" borrowed, there was a section with ideas.  

 

 

This sounds interesting.  I will look into it.  

 

 

I also think you might try to time some daily activities for a while, and start to see how long things take.  Can she tell that it takes longer to do something that is pretty long, than to do something that is pretty short?  If she can -- that is something maybe she can build on.  

 

Actually, we started this a couple of years ago, and also use a timer like you suggest below.  It has improved the situation.  She still struggles but it makes more sense now.

 

 

Is there a real-life connection?  Is she late for things b/c she doesn't give herself enough time to get ready?  Do things take longer than she expects?  I think those are things to work on.  

 

She abhors being late but has a terrible time judging how long it will take to get ready if she has to do anything other than brush her hair and put on shoes.  At least she can better determine those things now.  We have worked on that for quite a while.  She still relies on me to tell her when to start gathering things and getting ready to go out the door if she needs more than just hair brushing and shoes, though.  

 

  Can your daughter think through the year and think about some of the major holidays and when they are happening through the year?   If she can, maybe she has a strategy.  

 

I think some people may just memorize the amounts of time that various activities take, and then know that is how long they take, when they plan things.  I think maybe that is good enough to be able to plan a schedule and get places on time and get things done on time?  

 

She relies on a calendar to see if one Holiday comes before another but is finally remembering that Thanksgiving and Christmas are relatively close together and Christmas comes at the end of the calendar year without having to look.  The other Holidays are a bit of a muddle yet but she usually knows that Halloween comes during October.

 

Those are some ideas I got from that book, though.  I think those are the highlights you might be interested in from it.  I read through that chapter a few times, there are a lot of ideas in it for my younger son.  

Thanks for the book rec, Lecka and for sharing your experiences with your son.  :)

 

We work slowly and steadily with daily life skills time, planning for things, etc. and the situation has improved.  Although another issue is her distractability.  She was showering yesterday for instance.  Usually if she is showering we set a timer or I come remind her to get out.  She's 14 so she doesn't need me.  She showers and gets dressed without any need for me to be there.  It is just needing to remember when to get out that can be problematic.  A timer helps but she doesn't always remember to set one.

 

Anyway, I was busy with DS and then with stuff for DH and the business stuff and got a phone call regarding the death of a family friend.  I didn't realize she had been showering for nearly 2 hours.  The hot water was long gone but she hadn't really paid any attention.  She was singing and thinking up stories in her head and just kept washing and rewashing her hair, playing with and observing the water droplets, etc.  She did not feel the passage of time and was focused on many things besides showering so she was not really aware of how long she had been in there.  

 

When I came and got her she was so shocked that she had been in there that long.  She felt bad afterwards and apologized for using all the hot water and wasting so much water but I made it clear I wasn't angry and next time she just needed to remember to set a timer so she would know when to get out.  We tried brainstorming ways for her to remember to set the timer herself, since I won't always be around to remind her.

 

Right now with math lessons, though, she has to determine elapsed time mathematically.  This is driving her nuts.  I am trying to find different ways to help her visualize and compute elapsed time because what CLE does isn't working that well.  If I can find a better strategy then I think she can get it.  Certainly other modifications we have made have helped tremendously.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and the insight.  I will ponder this further....

[OneStepAtATime]

Here's a link of a way to solve elapsed time story problems. I used it with some of m Autistic kiddoes and it worked well.

 

http://www.zooktutoring.com/a-visual-way-to-solve-elapsed-time-problems/

That looks like it might work better.  CLE just uses clock faces so far and DD is struggling.  A number line might help her visualize the mathematics better.  Thanks!

[Lecka]

You could try a visual schedule for the shower.  Make a list of each step she takes in the shower, make a picture (or icon) for each one, and she does each step.  The last step is to get out.

 

If washing and re-washing her hair was the only thing she did more than once, then you only need to work on "wash your hair once, then move on to the next thing."  You could write a note onto her shampoo bottle "wash once and keep going" or something.  

 

Something my Dad used to do -- he had a little hygiene bag, and he took each item out and put it on the counter.  As he used it, he put it away in the hygiene bag.  When he was done, he put the hygiene bag back in the bathroom cabinet.  

 

If you did this with a shower caddy, she could have a shower caddy, take each item out and put it in the shower, in order (maybe), and as she uses each item, places it back in the shower caddy.  She could have liquid soap or soap in a plastic soap holder, instead of using things always left in the shower.  This might transfer to her living in other places, if she might live in an apartment in a few years.  

 

It sounds like you could do more than just set a timer.  I think -- pick an order, and then have her do things in the same order each time, and that way, she doesn't repeat things.  I was taught to wash from top to bottom, and I fit my specific things into that.  

 

This would be hard with a shower for a few reasons, but maybe you could make it work.... this has worked amazingly for my younger son and brushing his teeth.  There is a video on youtube of someone brushing teeth, doing the steps (toothbrush on toothpaste, run under water, brush top teeth front and back and sides, brush bottom teeth front and back and sides, rinse mouth, spit, rinse toothbrush, put away toothbrush).  He had worked on it before, but for putting it all together, doing it along with the video worked great for him.  

[OneStepAtATime]

Sounds good Lecka.  Thanks for the suggestions.  I know my morning goes much smoother if I get into a routine and do mostly the same things at the same time in the same order every day.  I didn't used to need that but life is so jumbled now that is the only way I don't skip things, KWIM?

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Anyone have some specifics for the math behind elapsed time?  I am going to try the number line thing today.  Wish me luck!

 

And DD and I are going to try creating a shower routine for her, with specific items in a specific order then it is time to get out....

[LaughingCat]

What do you mean by math elapsed time?  Two times (or two clock pictures) and you have to figure out the time between them?

 

For reading/adding/subtracting time - what helped my DD most was just doing a LOT of it - a page a day of clock faces.    I used places on the web that generate clock faces.   I wish I could have found clock faces that had the second hand (or further as that one school I can't remember the name of 's protocol works on) - but since I couldn't find any,  I would draw them in myself.      For adding/subtracting I started with easy clock faces (hour->half hour->15min->5min->other mins) and ask her to add a time to it, starting with easy times.   I would do a whole page of faces with adding the same time.   I actually need to try this again to see if she has retained.  

 

Regarding passage of time in her life -- can't help you there :crying:   

visual timers/countdown timers (sounds like you are using this already)

There are those timers that dings a settable amount of time before time's up.

There is that site that uses magnets or white board markers to mark on a clock ( really like the idea behind this one - bought a metal clock and all - and the cat ate the hands off!!!!!! ).

 

None of this has really helped my DD though - she will set a timer - but there is something missing in the 'rush' piece-- there is no "I only have 5 minutes so I better rush" -- instead whatever just ends up unfinished .   Timers work for things like showers/instrument practice -- but they don't work if I say "write a paragraph on <blah>" -- then she might blow through it or she might take a hour and have 2 lines to show for it.   (ETA: and if she says "I'll just take a quick 5 minute shower" without a timer, well, that pretty much means I have to tell her "get out of the shower now!" to get her out 5 minutes later :sneaky2: )

 

[OneStepAtATime]

By elapsed time, what I mean is the math problems she is having to do where it is a word problem and events are happening and she has to determine how much time has elapsed or how much time is needed before the next event or whatever.  CLE puts up a clock face and has the child count by 5s, marking the starting point with one mark and the ending point with another.  This isn't working for DD very well.  It takes her a LOOOOOOONG time to process this and count it correctly and it frustrates her no end.  I am just hoping to come up with something that works better for her, KWIM?

[LaughingCat]

By elapsed time, what I mean is the math problems she is having to do where it is a word problem and events are happening and she has to determine how much time has elapsed or how much time is needed before the next event or whatever.  CLE puts up a clock face and has the child count by 5s, marking the starting point with one mark and the ending point with another.  This isn't working for DD very well.  It takes her a LOOOOOOONG time to process this and count it correctly and it frustrates her no end.  I am just hoping to come up with something that works better for her, KWIM?

 

Except for the word problem part, this sounds similar to my time "addition".  What I did I got off some website -- what I remember is it had you start with a page of clock faces with the 'easy' times (hours/half hours) - -and then start by adding an 'easy' amount of time (+5 minutes maybe -- or +30 minutes if your DD understands hour/half hour well  ) and then work your way up to harder clock faces and harder addition #'s.    I only did this after DD had been doing a page of clock faces daily for some time though  (maybe a month?)   I know I started doing the clock faces due to reading about  Barbara Arrowsmith-Young ( had to look that up! -- all I could think of was 'woman who changed her brain' and 'has some school' )--( it was the  The Brain that Changes Itself  that got me going in that direction - but she does not detail her methods online -- that book has more (albeit not much - a couple pages with minimal description) of her exercises than her own books does

 

Of course where my DD struggled most was at the 'hour' change: so 8:50 + 20 min was way harder for her than 8:20 + 20 min.

 

Also -- another point regarding your description: my DD for a long time was worse at 'skip counting' than regular addition (not that she was fast at regular addition either) -- so it would have been harder for her to count by 5's around a clock (10 , 15, 20, 25 means skip counting and keeping track of how many you need to skip count)  than just to do regular addition (regular addition obviously doesn't works at hour changes!).'

 

If the problems are doing multi-hour stuff (over the hour, or more than 1 hour) -- I would definitely make sure your DD can do much easier time calculations first -- maybe change the numbers in the CLE so you can keep progressing?

 

ETA: darn it! tried to italic something and somehow posted instead

[Lecka]

I would try to change that from a clock face to a vertical number line, marked with whatever makes sense, like 1:00, 1:15, 1:30, 1:45, 2:00, etc...... she would not have to double over the clock face to go up more than an hour!  It might be easier to see where she is starting.  

 

You also do not have to deal with the number 6 representing 30, the number 7 representing 35, etc.  

 

Maybe you could make a number line that had a big line for 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, and a medium line for :30 after and littler lines for :15 and :45.  

 

If she learned subtraction with a vertical number line and did good with that -- it would make sense.  If not -- maybe it is not the best.  But if she did good with "frog jump" subtraction, then adapting the number line might make it into more of a "frog jump" thing she might already understand.  

 

I like the link, too, it was set up as a vertical line.  

[OneStepAtATime]

Thanks everyone.  Working through next week's lessons to see where I want to modify.  We shelved math for today since we are booked solid with unusual things today.  The kids actually were the ones that suggested we shelve math and do a lesson tomorrow and Saturday since they both hit some snags yesterday.  It is giving me time to process and check in here.  Hopefully this hump will be gotten over sooner than measuring to the quarter inch but even if it takes time, we will get there.

[Heathermomster]

Time Tracker program..

 

I taught DS to draw a number line to calculate elapsed time.  He eventually learned, but it was very frustrating at the beginning.

[geodob]

Though perhaps you could develop a totally different model?

That uses categories for a sense of time?

Which times different activities, and then groups them together.

 

So that these different categories, become a reference point, for different amounts of time?

 

 

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

DD was working with the Student Council today helping with a community service project that was supposed to be over at 3pm.  I dropped her off at 11am.  She looked at the digital clock, tried to visualize an analog clock in her head then turned and asked if that meant she would be at the event for 4 hours.  I said "yes" and she grinned since she had figured it out without needing me.  Then she looked worried at being in the heat for 4 hours trying to wrangle a pile of kids from the local public schools (she isn't really the nurturing type).   :)  I told her she'd be fine and the experience would be good for her. 

 

However, the event ended early and I wasn't there to pick her up (nor were any other parents but she didn't seem to notice that part).  She called, very tired and hot and asked me to come pick her up.  The drive is about twenty minutes.  Exactly 3 minutes after she called, she called again, asking where I was.   :confused1: I explained that I hadn't even had time to walk out the door yet and it would be a good 20 minutes before I could get there so she would need to be patient.  I got on the road, I had been gone barely 5 minutes and was stopped at a light.  She called again, very frustrated.  She asked why it was taking so long. Grrrr.  Love her to death but not sensing the passage of time is a bit irritating for both of us.   :glare:

 

Oh, well.  At least the math went well.   :laugh:

[geodob]

Though this highlights the difficulty with concieving of different sized 'quantities'.

 

[Heathermomster]

Geoff, would you please explain the brain regions that enable us to perceive time?  Are there any particular body movements that specifically activate those brain regions?  

[lauranc]

Have you tried this:  http://www.timetimer.com/store/category/1/timers

 

I bought one for my daughter who has great difficulty with time and especially elapsed time, how much time is left etc.

 

It has helped some.  I can't say it's been a miracle though.  :001_smile:

[geodob]

Heather, behind each ear, we have a Parietal Lobe.

Which we use to concieve of space, to the left and right.

With a Parietal Lobe for each side.

If you close your eyes, and think about where your left hand is, and the position its in?

You are concieving of your left hand, in your right Parietal Lobe.

 

An area in the Mid-brain, called the Entorhinal Cortex.  Combines both sides together.

 

But the brain makes a significant use of having these opposing Parietal Lobes (PL) on each side?

 

Firstly it uses the right PL to concieve of and locate a 'beginning point'.

The the left PL, to locate an 'endpoint'.

 

The mid-brain takes these opposing points, and can divide up the space in between them and form increments.

So that when you think of 'yesterday, today, tomorrow' ?

Yesterday is concieved as a point in left PL, and tomorrow in the right PL.

But they go off into infinity with both sides.?

So that we can concieve of the words: Past and Future as opposing directions.

As well as Lesser and Greater, and Before and Next.

 

This thing called a 'Number Line', is actually visual?

It is the ability to concieve of beginning and end points, and then concieve of increments between them.

Which we learn to name as numbers.

[OneStepAtATime]

Interesting.  Both DD and DH have a phenomenal sense of 3D spatial relations.  And they almost never get lost.  But they get left and right confused.  North and South can be problematic, too.  But they can SENSE the right direction to go if they have been somewhere before (Well, except when DH and I were in France.  His internal compass was totally mucked up and he had to rely on my map skills.  :) ).

 

They both struggle with time sense and elapsed time.

 

Not sure what all that means, but the brain really fascinates me.  :)

[geodob]

In regards to getting left and right confused?

You might consider this, in terms of the brains use of the Left to concieve of a 'beginning point'.

Then the Right to concieve of an opposing 'end point'?

 

When you pick up a ruler, you automatically concieve of its beginning and end points.

But you might consider the confusion if these beginning and end points, aren't clearly concieved of?

 

[Lecka]

 That makes a lot of sense.  

[Heathermomster]

HWT does something interesting wrt to left and right.  I'm working off long term memory and sold my HWT stuff so keep that in mind as you read what comes next.

 

Basically, the author recommended placing dots on the upper left corners of doors and doorways.  The idea is to get the student always looking up to the far left.  The upper far left is the starting corner.  As a matter of habit when working with DD when she was small, I always marked the upper left corner of her papers with a star or heart and reminded her that it was the starting corner.  I don't know, but maybe the same principle could be applied to left and right.  Maybe use a symbol for left and consistently place it in the starting corner of her school papers.  The symbol could be a color dot or texture that indicates left.  The symbol should be significant to the student.  A mental peg of sorts so that the student can internalize the meaning of the left hand side.

[geodob]

But in isolation, their is no such thing as Left?

It only comes into existence, when it has an opposing point, that we call Right.

 

Left and Right, is something that we concieve of with Spacial thinking.

For someone born without Vision, they can easily concieve of 'where' Left and Right are?

As they can locate them with Spacial thinking.

 

But at the heart of this, they first need to be able to concieve of these points opposing each other.

Where we locate ourselves at the mid-point between them.

Which go off into infinity on both sides.

Lesser/ Greater, Past/ Future. Subtract/Add.

 

Where we firstly concieve of these, before learning words to represent them.

In the same way, that we can concieve of red, blue and yellow, Before we learn to name them.

 

Though something that I wonder if could be helpful with this?

Simply involves tossing some small object, from one hand to the other. Back and forth.

Where this could be used to spacialy locate Left and Right as opposing points.

[LaughingCat]

FWIW I often still only know which way is left and which is right by a bodily 'tell' (in my case - it is that I cannot easily 'wink' my right eye but can easily wink my left).  To me personally though that seems more about associating the word 'left' with the correct side - as when reading or giving directions -- and not related to the spatial sense of what is left or right or which way I should go.  

[OneStepAtATime]

I agree.  DD and DH seem to have a great sense of where to go.  But they have a hard time associating the words left and right with something meaningful.  DH still has to hold up his hands to see which one makes the L in the correct direction (doesn't help DD, though).  Yet he rarely ever gets lost.  

 

And he is an excellent pilot.  He knows where he is in relation to everything else.  His instructors have always been amazed at how he just "knows" where the airport is and where he is in relation to the ground, etc.  He senses it. He struggles to label things, though.  Studying for the written part of his pilot's license was hard.  He breezed through the actual flying with no issues.

[geodob]

That is interesting?

Though I would ask if they also have  difficulty with: 'up, down, behind, in front'?

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Hmmm.  Possibly not to the extent that a left/right label has been an issue IIRC, but maybe I just don't use those words as often for instruction?

 

But Barton addressed those labels and since they both did that part of Barton I don't think testing this now would be as accurate.  

 

I must admit I have a lousy sense of direction.  My mother is even worse.  But I never had an issue with left and right or up and down or behind or in front.  North and South is another matter.  It took me forever to be able to give directions using North and South instead of left and right.  I just could not picture in my head where a location was in relation to North and South.  But DH?  No problem.  In fact, he can't give left right directions.  He only gives compass directions.

[Guest mathninja]

Here is another online resource you can get help on how to calculate elapsed time:

 

http://math.tutorpace.com.

 

Good luck.

[OneStepAtATime]

Quote: "Here is another online resource you can get help on how to calculate elapsed time:

http://math.tutorpace.com.

Good luck."

 

 

 

Thanks!

[OneStepAtATime]

Since this thread got resurrected, I thought I would post an update.  DD and I did a lot with elapsed time based on the suggestions up thread.  Thank you to everyone who has tried to help. I really, really appreciate it.  She honestly seemed to be making a bit of progress with time and elapsed time but for the past several weeks we weren't really doing daily work with it.  She had lots of things going on outside our home and was tackling quite a few math and reading lessons that were taking a lot of brain power.  Time just got done sporadically at best.  Today we pulled out a lesson and even reading an analog clock without dealing with elapsed time was gobbledygook to her.  She was so frustrated.  

 

Heavy sigh.  I guess I have to make absolutely certain that she does something with time every.single.day.  We are both kind of tired of trying at this point, though.  She's in 8th grade, technically.  She's been working on this since like kinder.....

[OneStepAtATime]

I was seeking info on elapsed time and found my old thread.  I thought I would resurrect this to give some context.  It is now 2017.   My original post was almost exactly 2 years ago. Elapsed time is not sticking.  No way, no how.  If we work diligently for weeks and weeks daily the clouds start to part, understanding starts to sink in, and she sort of gets it.  We stop for any length of time and it all goes up in a puff of smoke.  Dyscalculia can be a real bear to deal with.  DD is tired of trying.  She is working hard in pretty much every other area of math presented to her, even areas where she still struggles.  But this?  She's just so done and frankly so am I.

 

She gets herself ready for things by putting 400 million alarms on her phone.  It works for her.  She still cannot do any sort of elapsed time figuring on the fly.  She also still periodically hiccups on reading an analog clock.  She is dependent on others to help if she is needing to do something that is outside her routine and has not done it before (with regards to time, not getting things done in general).  She cannot effectively judge how long something will take if she hasn't done it before or how long it will take to get from point A to point B unless we have driven it many times. etc.  I hate that she has to ask others but for daily functionality with routines she is great at getting those alarms into her phone.  She is almost never late for anything that is part of our normal schedule.  She is also very proactive at asking others for help with time or elapsed time so she is a very good self-advocate.  

 

Anyway, she is doing pretty well with functionality even if telling time and figuring out elapsed time just have never really clicked in her brain.  I don't know that actually doing math problems that involve elapsed time will ever be possible without intense, constant, daily review ad nauseum forever and since there is no (or at least severely limited) long term retention I am now wondering if there is any point in continuing to try.  I am considering just skipping math problems that involve elapsed time or scaffolding the elapsed time part.  And letting her continue to find other coping mechanisms for ways to function in daily life.  Am I crazy?

 

 

[Heathermomster]

What do her processing speed and wm numbers look like?

 

I almost wonder whether she might benefit from BrainHQ exercises for wm and some sort of bilateral coordination/balance/developmental motor work.

 

My son never picked up elapsed time until about 8th grade. He wore an analog/digital watch for a few years. For time, I basically try to make sure he has plenty of time to get wherever he needs to be. He manages to organize himself for fishing, football, and airsoft.

[OneStepAtATime]

What do her processing speed and wm numbers look like?

 

I almost wonder whether she might benefit from BrainHQ exercises for wm and some sort of bilateral coordination/balance/developmental motor work.

 

My son never picked up elapsed time until about 8th grade. He wore an analog/digital watch for a few years. For time, I basically try to make sure he has plenty of time to get wherever he needs to be. He manages to organize himself for fishing, football, and airsoft.

Working memory is within low normal range.  Processing speed is low.

 

Her coordination and balance are awesome.  Way above average.   She was climbing trees, swimming, etc. extremely well from very early on.  

 

It is "time" that doesn't click.  It is the strangest thing.  She does now understand that time passes but only as someone who is blind may finally understand the basic concept of color from how others describe it, not as someone who has seen it.  Does that make sense?  She knows she has to work within a world that exists within a framework of the passage of time so she has developed coping skills for doing so but there is something that just isn't there for understanding time as an NT person would.  

 

For example, she knows that to be late to something means showing up after others and that being late can inconvenience them and you.  She hates being late.  She does not wish to miss out or inconvenience others.  Therefore she is careful to have alarms to micromanage her getting out the door.  Since she cannot feel internally the passage of time she knows she will need multiple reminders (example: an hour ahead, 30 minutes ahead, 10 minutes ahead, time to go).  Those numbers really don't mean "time" in the sense that she feels time.  They are just symbols that indicate she must do certain things to be ready to go.  

 

She cares deeply about being responsible and getting things done and her executive function skills aren't that bad.  She stays pretty organized.  She just cannot really understand time at a very basic level internally.  She is missing some critical component that I am not.  I'm not sure how to explain it...