Aspergers And Common Sense
People with Aspergers Syndrome are no less intelligent than the next person, in fact they are often of above average intelligence (which sadly, isn’t always immediately obvious), but they do lack common sense.
One Good Example Of Greg’s
Greg’s has always had a ‘thing’ about numbers. Not just any old numbers, he seems to have a fascination with changing numbers, like the time on clocks, countdowns and timers (which has proven to be dangerous in the past – another post for another day!).
For him to get ready for school he has umpteen alarms set to go off at certain times (every few minutes). It’s something he does and I don’t question it, as each alarm prompts him to move onto the next thing, like eating, getting washed, dressed brushing his teeth, putting his sandwich in his bag, putting on his shoes and leaving the house.
The alarms going off can cause friction with the sleeping members in the household at times, but without the alarms going off Greg’s would get too stressed to get out the door on time. We hve reached a compromise where he puts his phone on a pillow to dull the sound and the other alarm stays in the living room.
We have a wall clock on the balcony which he likes to be reading 7.21 or 7.22 when he leaves to catch the bus for school. The other morning Greg’s noticed that the clock outside was four minutes slow compared to his phone and got all flustered. I tried to explain that the time hadn’t changed or slowed down and that nothing had changed. I know because I watch the clock in the kitchen as well as the one outside and the difference there was still the same.
It ended up with me putting the clock forward by four minutes to keep him happy.
Now he still likes to leave the house as the clock reads 7.21 or 7.22, and he can’t understand why putting the clock forward actually means he is leaving the house earlier than he was.
Tweet ThisAnother Example
Now this is a cute one and still makes me smile when I think about it.
Greg’s has never been the most sporty of children, he would love to be, but his major lack of coordination, aversion to people and clumsiness, means no matter how hard he tries, he’s never very good.
This story took place a few years ago, during a gym class when the teacher was timing the children running. When I picked Greg’s up from school that day and inquired how his day was, he was as pleased as punch to tell me that he was the best boy at running in his class. Now as his Mum I knew that couldn’t have been the case, so I asked for more information (Greg’s will rarely share information unless asked and even then it can be hard work).
He told me that the children were timed whilst running across the school yard. I can’t remember the exact times, but lets just say that the fastest child ran it in nine seconds and Greg’s did it in twelve seconds, Greg’s automatically thought that he was the better runner as his time was longer. I left it at that until later (I didn’t want to burst his bubble there and then).
Later on I tried to explain to him that the lower the time, the faster the runner, which would mean that his time wasn’t actually the best (I guessed that he came last, which was why he thought he was the best).
At that time we never knew he had Aspergers. Since learning that he has, I have also learned that there is a connection between having Aspergers and common sense (or a lack of ).
It Is Perfectly Normal
If you have or know someone with Aspergers Syndrome, don’t stress because you or they lack common sense. Aspergers and common sense don’t always go hand in hand. It can be exasperating sometimes, but so is life with Aspergers.
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Aspergers Syndrome • autistic spectrum disorder • Greg's and Us • raising awareness
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