Imagination and Asperger's

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Joined: 3 Oct 2009
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 245
Location: Thailand

10 Mar 2011, 1:13 pm

I read your article, and GOSH, this is me!! !

But my parents have never came around to what I'm up to. They've probably been fooled by the red flat that AS lack imagination. Lack of imagination? Total poppycock!

For the years that have passed, my interests in whatever shifted(except for anything aviation related). I've had imaginative paralellel world's that have came and gone. I could never explain why I was like that. And I always feared of exposing them to anyone around me.

I have a private world where I live alone(without my parents) in the real world, and making a good living off of webdesign & real estate investment. My house is 4 stories high, and uses solar power, and I drive a Saleen S7 sports car that's modified to use compressed air instead of gasoline. And my world connect with The Sims's world from The Sims 2. All the familiar faces and such. I was able to access into their world by some wormhole that I drive my car through and they can come into the real world too. In this world, I can socialize like a normal person and function like one, but I can't seem to execute them for real.

I also have an Avatar parallel world where I was a lonely avatar driver(presumed with AS traits also) and after defending a lone na'vi clan, I became their leader(sorta like Jake Sully). I also have a girlfriend whose also an avatar driver as well, a former one of somesort..

---------------------------------------------------+++

Well, back to the criteria part. In conclusion, I agree with you. I DON'T believe in the fact that AS lack imagination. We just have a different type of imagination, and there's nothing wrong with that. For example, I have been on deviantart for 2 years already, and I totally can't do digital paintings. Not that I can't paint, but bringing out an idea of what to paint. And I only have 2-3 piantings so far. I ended up with photogrpahy, in which I really enjoy, and I have a good eye for it. I've always felt that I've never fit into the DA scene because of having a totally different imagination. Luckily that I drew sailplanes since it's my interest. Few people on there are interested in them, but it's better than nothing.

I'm currently getting started on a blog about AS, and I'll spread the message as well about some of the inaccurate criteria; not to insult any of the specialists *& psychologists, but for the benefit of those wanting to know more about the symptoms and coping with life.

2ukenkerl
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10 Mar 2011, 8:42 pm

tiffofdoom,

Well, you seem like a nice lady, and at least know what THEY are going through. That is more than I ever got. I am over a decade older than you, and I didn't know about AS either. So don't feel stupid for not knowing.

Frankly, I don't think I lack imagination. If I EVER had to prove it to myself, I could remember flying on some aircraft I had when I was a little kid. Funny, they were NEVER built. I just kind of constructed them in my mind, AND FLEW THEM, all around the planet. Or I could remember all the discussions, etc... I never had, but often do. And some say you can't visualize in color, yet I had color in all the above.

NO doctor ever looked at that, to the best of my knowledge. I wennt one place, for example, and they gave me tiles with pictures on them. I had to arrange them and tell a story using them. MAYBE that was imagination. I looked at inkblots and had to say something they reminded me of.

For imaginary play, I guess I kind of did that with the aircraft, etc... I remember using those large boxes as a baby, but I don't remember really playing with cars, etc...

I don't spend enough time in my world. I SHOULD spend more. And, like an earlier post, I often seemed "ZONED OUT" when I was really deep in my world. My stupid mother kept pulling me out. "HEY, ***HEY***, are you OK!?!?" :twisted:

tskin1
Raven
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Location: Michigan, USA

10 Mar 2011, 11:23 pm

Quote:

Unfortunately, the school has to see potential qualifying factors before they will begin any type of assessment

has nothing to do with the thread just wanted to clarify this one.... any parent at any time (if in the usa) has the right to ask for a comprehensive educational evaluation for their child! You do not need a diagnosis or any other reason you just have to request it.. You do this in writing to the school send certified letter.. once recieved they have 30 days to complete this evaulation which includes an evaluation from OT, PT, Psycologist and speech therapist. Each one will observe your child in the classroom setting (or at home) they will interview the parents and the teachers, they will collect any doctor records you have ect. per/ IDEA 2004 the parent is the integral part of the team and the process. You know your child more than anyone so if you feel they need help you just have to ask for the comprehensive educational evaluation...

if for instance your only concerned about speech you would then request a speech evaluation from the school and again they would have 30 days to complete it.

At the end of the evaluation they will tell you if they feel your child will benifit from special education services and which ones and specifically which catagory they feel your child fits into.

What is distressing is that if your child has a diagnosis say of Autism from numerous sources the school still does not have to offer them services if their evaluators feel your child does not need them for the school setting, and this is where a lot of battles with the schools begin unfortunately. In our first district the speech therapist (long story) actually tried to tell my ex husband that they could not accept a diagnosis from the psychiatrist we used because he wasn't from the Upper Penninsula where were live, dispite the fact that he was an autism specialist. Another explained to us that the medical diagnosis and the educational label have nothing to do with each other. coincidentally my son is diagnosed AS but has special ed services in the AI (autism) catagory of impairment thus providing him with all the services he needed and in michigan providing to the family a montly substudy to help with therapies..but it was not easy with a school system that had very little understanding of the spectrum and who's evaluators really needed more education.

To the writer of the threat if your concerned feeling your children need some help in differnet area's within the school system you can request this evaluation now and go from there.... IF you want to persue the diagnosis as well you can always get that when the appt finally happens but you do not need it before requesting help from the school

It can however become useful to have a doctor or more than one professional backing you up should the school decide your child doesn't need help.

JaredGTALover
Toucan
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Location: Bronx,NY,USA

31 Jul 2017, 4:34 pm

this may be sex-related & apologies to anyone who may freak-out over it,but i had an imagination that i bought a giant-stuffed bear (the color i was looking for) i took it inside my bedroom & we pressed our bodies up against each other & i grabbed it by the ass (i had no shirt & shorts on),it was so sexy,i ended up making plans to get the bear i had the image of & do to the bear as i played the image of,it’s gonna be so sexy like a tiger pouncing on it's mate,RAWR

maru99
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Joined: 20 Aug 2014
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Posts: 41

01 Aug 2017, 1:17 pm

Its really good topic and I found this old thread because previous poster posted his thought recently.

Does My son has problems in imagination? Answer is Yes and No.

I feel some of his imagination as skills are affected by his other conditions such as vision problems, dyspraxia, body awareness.

My guess is that he has problems in imagining something not in picture form such as things behind objects or future events. I suspect my son has problems in perceiving 3D object which has other side not visible and also has depth. He struggles in understanding preposition such as behind, between, under.

Dyspraxia affected him in his thinking what comes next because he has not done a lot of practise this by motor planing so I feel that affects in how he follows or plans multi-step instructions.

Body awareness affects his way of perceiving his surrounding.

If he is given tasks or instructions to imagine new surrounding, futures, something not visible (eg. things behind or hidden). He struggles big time.

But on the other hand, in his head, he enjoys or manipulates images which is already familier to him, something he has seen already somewhere. But not in very creative way. In his imagination, I think there is no future, past.

will@rd
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01 Aug 2017, 1:40 pm

Here's an old WP thread that addresses the same idea:

Quote:

Annotated Alice: As DH and I read more about Asperger's, most of it fits my son all too well, but there are a couple of things that don't seem to apply at all. I realize that it is a spectrum and that not all people with AS exhibit all features of the description, but there is one area where my son differs dramatically-he most definitely does not have "an impairment in imagination". Having a huge, vivid imagination is really one of the defining characteristics of who my son is. He is extremely creative and has spent a huge amount of time pretending to be different characters (playing "dress up"), drawing, building with Lego, making up stories and playing with various action figures etc. These activities usually centre around his special interest at the time. For example last year when life was all about Star Wars (particularly the Fett family of bounty hunters), he dressed in a Boba Fett costume, played for hours with his Star Wars figures (not just lining them up and organizing them, but imagining elaborate scenarios and enacting them with his figures), made his own Star wars comic books and even drew up plans for a bounty hunter video game. He wasn't just repeating scripts from the movies and books, but was creating his own new scenarios and ideas, using George Lucas' characters and settings for a jumping off point.

He gets so wrapped up in his own imagination, that he can play on his own for hours and hours at a time and has a really, really difficult time wrenching himself out of his own world and back into reality. When he was a preschooler, we used to sometimes worry about him being able to distinguish between what was imagined and what was real.

So I see my son as being way more creative than the average kid, and I'm not quite sure how this fits with his difficulty with executive functions? Or lack of social imagination?

I was interested to read through this old thread and poll in the General Autism discussion. 78% of responders said that they had vivid imaginations? So is lack of imagination an AS misconception?

I'd love to hear from other parents about whether or not their AS children participate in pretend play? or are imaginative or creative in any way? Or from adult aspies about their own creativity?

Willard: Here's a thought on 'imagination' versus 'social imagination':

When I was a kid, George Reeves' Superman series was on in reruns every afternoon, and until Adam West came along as Batman, it was my favorite show. My mom made me a Superman costume which I loved to death, and I spent hours leaping off the couch and racing up and down the hall in it. But anytime another kid showed up to play, it went in the back of the closet and there it stayed until they left. I didn't even tell them I had it, much less wear it in front of them.

I could play on the floor with soldiers endlessly, giving each character a name and even specific injuries and abilities. But when other kids wanted to role-play as cops and robbers, or cowboys and indians, that was a whole different universe. It made me feel exposed, vulnerable and foolish. Where in one situation I controlled the imaginary world, the other felt dangerously out of my control, and I simply couldn't abide the anxiety it produced. It was that classic Aspie sense of never quite knowing exactly what was expected of me, and feeling no matter what I did, it wouldn't be quite right.

Angel Undercover: I definitely don't have a problem with imagination. I'm a writer; I've been writing fiction since I was five. My creativity never worked quite the same way as other kids' though. I was never interested in doing things like playing house, for instance - I wasn't at all interested in imitating the things the adults around me did. And when kids did convince me to play games like that with them, it made me nervous, because I was worried I would get it wrong somehow. I preferred to play pretend games by myself; that was often how I would occupy myself at recess in elementary school, but I'm sure it looked like I was just wandering aimlessly. I invented a world in my head, and pretended I was living in that world. Instead of an imaginary friend, I created countless inhabitants of this world; I don't think any of them were the same from day to day though. And once someone gave me a set of toy cars; I had no interest in cars, so I gave them all personalities and created a community for them, because it didn't occur to me that they had to be cars instead of some sentient species. (I don't think this is exclusively an Aspie thing though. Plenty of kids make their toys into things they aren't. But clearly I did, and do, have imagination.)

Annotated Alice: Thanks for all the helpful replies. I feel like I'm understanding it better now. I really like the description from the National Autistic Society. It makes it much clearer than what I was reading.

From the National Autistic Society website:

"People with Asperger syndrome can be imaginative in the conventional use of the word. For example, many are accomplished writers, artists and musicians. But people with Asperger syndrome can have difficulty with social imagination. This can include:

imagining alternative outcomes to situations and finding it hard to predict what will happen next

understanding or interpreting other peoples thoughts, feelings or actions. The subtle messages that are put across by facial expression and body language are often missed having a limited range of imaginative activities, which can be pursued rigidly and repetitively eg lining up toys or collecting and organising things related to his or her interest.

_________________
"I don't mean to sound bitter, cynical or cruel - but I am, so that's how it comes out." - Bill Hicks

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