People with autism are very literal thinkers. If I tell Noah that he is the apple of my eye, he envisions himself as an apple. If I tell him his math lesson is a piece of cake, he will ask me what flavor and when did I have time to bake. We have to be very careful when we speak to Noah because he does take everything literally.
Before we knew that he had autism, I remember Noah and I coming home from the grocery store. My hands were full and I asked Noah to hit the garage door opener for me as we went into the house. The next thing I knew, he was beating the c.r.a.p. out of that opener. When I asked him why he was doing that, he said I told him to hit it.
Another time, I was fussing at Alan and told him to stop breathing down my neck. Noah replies that it was impossible to do that unless he was inside my mouth. I usually use many idioms in my speech and so if I am speaking to Noah or if he is within earshot, I find myself having to explain what it is that I mean.
Alan and I are working with Noah on how he responds when asked to do something. Sometimes he doesn't react the way we would like which I guess is typical for any preteen. The other day when I was repremanding him for a bad attitude, he set me straight. I have a tendency to over exaggerate, especially when I am angry. I told him that he is rude to me everytime I ask him to do a chore. And truth be told, he isn't. He did tell me that it isn't everytime. To Noah, everytime means everytime, never means never, and all means all. You can't exaggerate with him one bit.
We had a couple of lessons in language arts about idioms recently. I was thinking that he would have a hard time with it. Once he understood what certain things meant in this complex language of ours, he could apply that to his studies. Now, I'm guessing he won't be using them when he speaks or writes, but it's a start.
