Many of those with autism are considered concrete thinkers who tend to focus on the “here and now”. This can lead to difficulties in generalisations. As part of concrete thought process there is therefore a tendency to take words or phrases literally.
Mind-blindness, mindblindness or mind blindness is a theory initially proposed in 1990 that claims that all autistic people have a lack or developmental delay of theory of mind (ToM), meaning they are unable to attribute mental states to others.
We don't take those thoughts literally; those with OCD do, and fear that having those thoughts makes them a bad person. “The most common one I see is that a person fears they're a pedophile,” says Holl.
Why are toddlers so literal? Baby may be a lot bigger, and know a lot more, than when you first met them, but in the grand scheme of the things, they are just getting started. This means that they are still working on understanding the world around them: the things they can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.
Aspies are not “mind blind,” and they do have a common language. They can intuit each other quite easily. 2. Aspies are much more complicated than just “taking things literally.” They all know that something out of context in speech will cause them to focus on and interpret that thing until they've figured it out.
Non-autistic people tend to assess concepts before details, also known as top-down thinking. Autistic people take the opposite approach with bottom-up thinking and use details to build concepts. It may take longer to filter out sensory details with this approach, but you're less likely to miss important information.
Many of those with autism are considered concrete thinkers who tend to focus on the “here and now”. This can lead to difficulties in generalisations. As part of concrete thought process there is therefore a tendency to take words or phrases literally.
Visual, verbal, and pattern thinkers
Temple Grandin describes autism as a behavioral profile that has strengths and weaknesses. She has suggested that autistic people's thinking fall into one of three categories: visual thinkers; verbal/logic thinkers; and musical/mathematical thinkers.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are reported to have greater levels of anger rumination than typically developing children.
The Asperger's mind enjoys and focuses on details, while the normal mind is more skilled at assembling whole concepts from details. Some people with Asperger's are visual thinkers and others are math, music, or number thinkers, but all think in specifics.
Just like everyone, autistic people can have good mental health. However, according to the autism research charity Autistica, seven out of ten autistic people have a mental health condition such as anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
People with autism have difficulty making appropriate facial expressions at the right times, according to an analysis of 39 studies1. Instead, they may remain expressionless or produce looks that are difficult to interpret. The new work is the largest yet to explore this issue.
Autistic people may act in a different way to other people
find it hard to understand how other people think or feel. find things like bright lights or loud noises overwhelming, stressful or uncomfortable. get anxious or upset about unfamiliar situations and social events. take longer to understand information.
Without oversimplifying, you can begin to explain autism in an easy way by saying something like: “My child is autistic. It's something they were born with, and it means they may not act or respond how you would expect. It doesn't mean they're naughty, they just process things differently in their brain.”
Reasoning in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been characterised as being slower and more effortful than controls. People with ASD show a more circumscribed reasoning bias, and often take longer to make decisions.
Autistic individuals are likely to have a different way of processing information. There is a significant body of research that has advanced our understanding of the cognition or thinking styles and processes of people who are on the autism spectrum (Bowler, 2007).
Every autistic person is different, but sensory differences, changes in routine, anxiety, and communication difficulties are common triggers.
However, many autistic people have been stung by oversharing/overexplaining or simply aren't confident enough to do it in the first place and then we often go to the other extreme and undershare or underexplain.
The findings suggest that some social-communication difficulties seen in autism — such as the inability to recognize emotions in others or to respond to others' feelings — may sometimes be due to alexithymia, Bird says.
A literalist is one that engages (from Merriam-Webster) in literalism, adherence to the explicit substance of an idea or expression.
The Caltech researchers isolated one very specific difference in autistic people's relations with others: that they don't tend to consider what others think about them at all. Researchers call this our "theory of mind" abilities - our intuitive skills for figuring out what other people think, believe and intend.
Unique shows of affection
People with autism may show their love by: sharing their special interest. allowing someone into their space. using alternative forms of communication.
However, brain scans using MRI and other methods do indeed help to recognize targets for the treatment of autism and may even help to diagnose autism in the future.