Just Watched the Temple Grandin movie

[Jean in Newcastle]

Did anyone else feel like her experience/ description of ASD doesn't fit their child (aspie) at all?  Ds says that he does not think in pictures. He thinks in text, sound and "movies" but not exclusively or even predominantly pictures.  He started to talk at 8 months and never stopped talking.  Pretty much the only thing that fits is the meltdowns from sensory overload and some difficulty gauging other people's emotions.  I know that this movie was an attempt to describe just one person and their experience but it is a person who acts as a spokeswoman for ASD.  Any thoughts? 

[SarahW]

I read one of Grandin's books that she wrote after that movie, and in it she discusses that she got a lot of flack for the "thinking in pictures" line, because so many people wrote to her and complained that it didn't describe them. She admits that it describes her, and maybe only her, but for her it was so normal that she didn't think it could be different. I think that's the gist of it? I read the book a while ago, and now I even forget what the title was...

[kbutton]

My kids found her thinking in pictures to be a window into how literally she thinks. My son has moments of being too literal, and he appreciated that she does too. They also got it that she would find something funny for a lot longer than someone else might find it funny and that being on the receiving end of "but it's still funny," can be a little off-putting.

 

She is more "classically" autistic, for lack of a better term, than my PDD-NOS/ASD 1 kiddo, but he did relate to the movie. Things like her avoiding the stores with the doors that opened automatically were things he could relate to. Even if he can make himself do stuff he doesn't want to do, he still doesn't like it. Incidents in that category are things that my son often copes with fine now most of the time, but he remembers them being a really big deal when he was younger. They still loom large in his memory.

 

He also got the sensory stuff, but he is a seeker/avoider, and his stims tended to be a bit different. I think he was able to appreciate some insight from the movie without thinking that she ought to be just like him. 

 

Both of my kids were amazed at the end of the movie at all she accomplished in spite of (and because of) her disabilities. They were both pleased to identify with other quirky people--IRL it's not always easy to do that. (Only one of mine is the on the spectrum, but my other one feels his own learning issues and peculiarities keenly.)

 

We also used the movie to communicate about things in an indirect way. I don't remember the context, but we talked about the shiny button on the shirts hanging over the cattle chutes and used that to describe a problem we were really having with something distracting or disconcerting. It was nice to have something neutral to refer to (and chuckle about) rather than having an in-your-face argument about whatever the real thing was. Sometimes seeing the same problem in a different setting diminishes the first-person tension so that we can talk about things.

[Pawz4me]

I've read the book but not watched the movie. Not much of what she said in the book seemed to correlate very much with DS (ASD-1/what would formerly have been called an Aspie). And when I watch videos of her I don't "see" DS's mannerisms or characteristics at all. To me he appears much more NT than she does. But I believe she fits the profile of HFA more than that of an Aspie?

Edited December 19, 2016 by Pawz4me

[Jean in Newcastle]

I've read the book but not watched the movie. Not much of what she said in the book seemed to correlate very much with DS (ASD-1/what would formerly have been called an Aspie). And when I watch videos of her I don't "see" DS's mannerisms or characteristics at all. To me he appears much more NT than she does. But I believe she fits the profile of HFA more than that of an Aspie?

That's what I feel. Plus, she seems to me to be a savant.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mom of 2 boys]

I'm on the spectrum, and I personally found her depiction of "thinking in pictures" to be very in line with the way that I think. I didn't even realize that other people do not think in pictures until I saw her movie. I also attended one of her lectures once, and she compared her thinking to doing a google image search. I relate strongly with that as well. My son is only 5 (also on the spectrum), but he's already saying that he takes pictures with his brain. He has classic autism, but I fit the description of aspergers - so I'm thinking that we're all just different, plain and simple. I find the whole concept to be really fascinating though. I wonder if people who think in pictures have more trouble verbalizing their thoughts then people who are already thinking in words. I feel like I spend a lot of time struggling for words. On the flip side - I'm a graphic designer and I've never struggled with making things look a certain way. My son - he didn't start talking until we introduced picture communication. It was like he couldn't understand the concept of communication until he was able to SEE it. It's all very interesting, and it probably deserves more research. 

 

 

[bookbard]

There's another book she co-authored with another fellow with ASD, and they were a complete contrast in many ways. She wasn't interested in relationships, he was; she thought in pictures, he didn't. The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships - it's a very good book. 

[kbutton]

I'm on the spectrum, and I personally found her depiction of "thinking in pictures" to be very in line with the way that I think. I didn't even realize that other people do not think in pictures until I saw her movie. I also attended one of her lectures once, and she compared her thinking to doing a google image search. I relate strongly with that as well. My son is only 5 (also on the spectrum), but he's already saying that he takes pictures with his brain. He has classic autism, but I fit the description of aspergers - so I'm thinking that we're all just different, plain and simple. I find the whole concept to be really fascinating though. I wonder if people who think in pictures have more trouble verbalizing their thoughts then people who are already thinking in words. I feel like I spend a lot of time struggling for words. On the flip side - I'm a graphic designer and I've never struggled with making things look a certain way. My son - he didn't start talking until we introduced picture communication. It was like he couldn't understand the concept of communication until he was able to SEE it. It's all very interesting, and it probably deserves more research. 

 

I think I've read about visually gifted people who say that it's hard to translate pictures in their heads into words, and they aren't necessarily all people who would be thought of as autistic. I know people who work with their hands and build stuff who are not autistic but struggle to communicate those things with words. 

 

It would not surprise me if there is quite a wide spectrum with words vs. pictures both inside and outside of autism. 

 

There are also highly verbal people that struggle with word retrieval--my family has this problem. We all lose our specific words when we turn 30 and have to say five words we don't mean before the right one pops out. It's very odd. The words are there, but getting them to come out correctly is a big challenge! 

 

A few lucky people are really good at both--some teachers, people who do DIY tutorials, etc.

[geodob]

In regard to 'thinking in pictures', their have been numerous studies of this in relation to Autism. Over the past 15 years.

Though these studies, have rather looked into 'delayed development of inner speech'.

Which have shown that a significant percentage of adults with Autism, are unable to use inner speech.

But not all.

 

To understand this, as you read this. You are probably hearing the words in your mind, as you read.

Without saying them out loud.

But perhaps you could imagine, looking at words and not hearing anything as you read them?

 

Also when you think through something in your mind?  That you can't verbally talk it through in your mind.

Where 'thinking in pictures', becomes an alternative way of thinking.

 

Though this way of thinking, takes more of the form of a 'mental movie'.

But this limits thinking to things that can be pictured.

That limits the thinking process?

As their are many words that don't have an image, other than as a 'printed word'.

 

For example, what image could you think of. To represent the words:  'of, if, could, should, might, perhaps' ?

They are concepts, that can't be pictured.

Other than as printed words.

 

But this has a major impact on the thinking process, of people who think in pictures.

As they are unable to use these type of words, in their thinking process.

 

Though I've been doing research and studies into this, for the past 8 years.   

But I've been doing 'Qualitative, rather than Quantitative' research.

The difference being that Quantitative, is a statistical study.

While Qualitative, is focused on the lived with experience.

 

Where it has a major impact on 'reflective thinking'.

To think through the different outcomes of ones actions.

[Loesje22000]

The aspies in our home do recognize themselves in the Asper Girl book from Rudy Simone.

Her book describes the diversity in the Asper community.

So they were able to say with the book in their hand: this is how Aspergers looks like in my life.

 

Dd loves her books :)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Which have shown that a significant percentage of adults with Autism, are unable to use inner speech.

But not all.

.

Yes, I understand that. My son would be in the "but not all " category.

[KSinNS]

In a later edition of her Thinking in Pictures book, she discusses this issue. It's true she, and many ASD folks think this way, and many don't. She discusses some of these other ways of thinking. My Ds is not a visual thinker, but very symbolic and mathematical. He learned receptive language from reading, expressive language from writing, music from score study. He is very good at math, but not geometry. Another person on the spectrum I know well is very verbal. Her language is extraordinarily strong, and she was an early speaker. She loves language and is very creative with it. She writes beautifully. I have never seen her draw. There are a few other categories as well.

[Cake and Pi]

I'm on the spectrum, and I personally found her depiction of "thinking in pictures" to be very in line with the way that I think. I didn't even realize that other people do not think in pictures until I saw her movie. I also attended one of her lectures once, and she compared her thinking to doing a google image search. I relate strongly with that as well. My son is only 5 (also on the spectrum), but he's already saying that he takes pictures with his brain. He has classic autism, but I fit the description of aspergers - so I'm thinking that we're all just different, plain and simple. I find the whole concept to be really fascinating though. I wonder if people who think in pictures have more trouble verbalizing their thoughts then people who are already thinking in words. I feel like I spend a lot of time struggling for words. On the flip side - I'm a graphic designer and I've never struggled with making things look a certain way. My son - he didn't start talking until we introduced picture communication. It was like he couldn't understand the concept of communication until he was able to SEE it. It's all very interesting, and it probably deserves more research. 

 

I'm NOT on the spectrum (Or, I don't think I am?  Probably ADHD though.) and I think in pictures as well.  Growing up I thought everyone did.  It wasn't until it somehow came up in a conversation with my DH back when we were teens that I realized some/many people think in words.  Blew my mind, lol.  I do have major issues with word retrieval and talking in general.  I can write without issue though, for whatever reason.  But I try to talk about things and just cannot come up with the words for the images in my mind.  I get so, so frustrated.  And when people talk to me, I have a lag between them talking and me understanding while I "translate" the audio into images, which I think makes me seem slow when I'm really not.  

 

I am slowly working on reading Bright Not Broken, which, so far, is all about the similarities and the different wired-ness of people with ASD, giftedness, and ADHD... so perhaps a person thinking in words or pictures has more to do with visual-spatial versus audio-sequential thinking styles?  Do NT (or even just not ASD, ADHD, or gifted) people split between visual-spatial and audio-sequential thinking too?  I'm curious now.