Turning emotions into pictures?

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My 8 year old son, who was recently diagnosed with autism, sometimes seems to "visualize" his emotions rather than naming them or explaining them. For example, we were recently at a rather long eye exam. He had that black lens machine with all the dials on it pressed against his face for more than ten minutes. This was at the end of a 30 minute exam, and I could see him becoming increasingly anxious and claustrophobic. In the middle of replying to the doctors questions, he blurted out "Mommy, I'm think of earthquakes!" I said "What about earthquakes?". He said that he was thinking about being in an earthquake and how to build a protective dome around himself in order to survive. He went on to describe the types of materials he might use to build the dome.

He has done things like this before and I just wonder if he is "seeing" pictures of these feelings (and seeing ways to calm his feelings!).
I just thought it was very cool and wondered if this is an illustration of the way his mind is working. The eye doctor seemed a little irritated!

This reminds me of a book I read, though unfortunately I can't remember the title or author. The author's son, who was eventually diagnosed with PDD-NOS, would speak in a metaphorical way, referring to favorite t.v. show scenes to convey emotions. His mother understood it so well she was surprised when he went to school and people found it confusing.

Mentally protecting yourself sounds very clever and somewhat like the "visualizations" some people use.

I think in pictures a lot, more so than the normal person I think. When I hear someone talking to me I envision what they are talking about, it feels like my whole life I've been watching a movie in the back of my head. Music is the most stimulating, I envision objects through emotions and sounds and music really stimulates that.

I have a hard time not expressing myself in metaphors, especially where emotions are concerned. The words alone just never seem quite adequate to fully explain what I'm trying to convey. For some purposes, poetry trumps prose.