Sunday, August 14, 2011

Something happens when I take the daughter with Aspergers to the doctor. I take her because even though she lives on her own no one else will take her. Well and because she's my daughter of course. I want her to get the best medical care we can get.

Anyway the daughter with Aspergers is very verbal. She can narrate things that happen in great detail. She is also very good at answering certain questions. Unfortunately when we go to the doctor he tends to word the questions in such a way she can not answer.

Yes, the words are more complicated, but it is more than that. The doctor's questions are too general. He might ask 'How are things?'. She would say 'Just fine.' I know he wants to know more than that and might prompt her about trouble sleeping.

Then the doctor might talk about the difference between falling asleep and staying asleep. He might pause then and wait for a repsonse. She looks at me and I tell her that he wants to know which is the problem falling asleep or staying asleep.

She can answer that question. It has to be worded pretty specifically and said verbally. She won't just volunteer the information. This is just one instance. It has happened in many different situations. I think it is part of her Aspergers.

I suppose what I'm wondering is if anyone else has noticed this with their child with Aspergers or Autism. It seems to be something about the way they communicate. Both of my daughters do it.

It is just so much more confusing with the daughter with Aspergers because she is so verbal and does answer the correctly worded question so well.

2 comments:

  1. I actually smiled while reading this, because I wrote about this situation on my own blog a while ago. (http://thoughtyautie.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/imagination-questions-and-generalizing/ The part about going to the doctor starts with the 5th paragraph down.) My most recent post might also offer some insight too. It's about how it doesn't occur to me to tell someone when something is wrong.

    I'm not trying to plug my own blog here, but I really do think those posts will at least confirm your suspicion that this communication difficulty is a part of your daughters' ASDs. Have you tried talking to your daughter's doctor about it? If they know they of her need for specificity and for them to be explicit, they might be able to adjust the kinds of questions they ask and how they ask them.

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  2. lol, thanks for posting. You are welcome to plug your blog occassionally. Yes, I will talk to her doctor about it.

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