I'll ask elsewhere also but thought you ladies might have some good input as well. C is 12 and "logic" stage now, for those who follow classical education. We do, loosely, and a little behind because of our high functioning autism considerations. Hubby is sitting here asking me if there are materials we can use to help him improve his logic skills. I know there are all sorts of "logic" materials and curricula out there, but do they help with every day practical thinking skills? The example hubby gave was telling C to go out and clean out the van. Take a trash bag and throw stuff away, and only bring in the house things that are good enough to keep. Instead of making a pile of things to bring in, C is bringing stuff in one... thing... at... a... time. :lol: It's things that we just assume are simple enough we don't even think to instruct him about. Hubby is frustrated with himself for getting upset when he knows C deals with things and thinks differently. My mother just sighs at him, and my grandfather can get too angry (and really, totally just doesn't get the whole HFA thing AT ALL). It's time that some of these simple things improve. Do the things usually labelled "logic" address this or is it like the red herrings and mostly riddles to "make you think"? Because those just cause hives here. :lol: Thanks!
(((hugs))) Ds is 11 going on 12 and is autistic. It's been my experience that there is no curriculum that teaches everyday logic simply because it can't explain things in a way that fits ds's perspective. I find more and more that I am his interpreter to and from the world. For some reason I understand his perspective. For me, and I'm only speaking for myself, I don't see the harm in him bringing in one thing at a time. Yes, ds has done things like that. My opinion is as long as the task was completed in an appropriate amount of time and was completely finished, he can do the job one piece at a time walking on his hands and carrying with his feet. For me, I don't care how he gets the job done as long as it is done and done correctly. Eventually ds will figure out he's getting tired by doing it his way and will try to find a better/easier way. One way I explained to someone about autism is this: Would you be able to point and aim a gun at a target if I were holding the gun and looking through the sights? No, you can't because we aren't standing in exactly the same spot so our visual perspective is different. And, your aren't able to see what I can see because you're aren't looking through the sight. You would never be able to line up the gun and pull the trigger as long as I'm holding it and looking through the sight. Autism works the same way. You can tell him how to aim and shoot the gun but you can't do it for him without taking the gun away from him. After he misses the target then you can ask him why he thought he missed and suggest a better way of doing it the next time. He will eventually hit the target.
I feel your pain! my high-functioning son used to have to be told to turn the shower on BEFORE you put the shampoo in your hair. Every.single.day! My husband had a very low tolerance for his lack of "common sense", as he put it. In all our years of dealing with this, I have never once seen anything that would help teach logic in a curriculum. When we looked into it, I kept coming across things just like you mentioned. Just things to make you think outside the box, so to speak. When I would ask the "experts" I was usually just told that nothing would help him and he was just going to be like this. The only thing they suggested was to keep laminated post it notes every where he went to remind him of correct procedure. Like I could possibly anticipate every scenario! The only thing I can say that might encourage you is that my ds is 22 now and seems to have learned coping skills and isn't quite as "lost" as he used to be. Repetition and consistency in your instructions seems to help.Also keep instructions limited to one step at a time. It seems also to be related to maturity levels. Hang in there.
