Jigsaw puzzles

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Hi - my little guy of four, D, really doesn't "get" jigsaw puzzles. At his preschool they have to complete a certain number puzzles of varying complexity during the year. He is still battling with a six-piece puzzle after five months when younger NT kids are doing 30 piece ones. His wonderful teacher wants to know if she should persist or just leave him out of the loop in this one. She is worried that he may develop an attitude of thinking he doesn't have to try anything he doesn't want to and use his Aspergers as an excuse to cop out.

Do Aspies have real difficulty with puzzles? He does not seem to grasp that the different pieces add up to the whole, but sees them as individual incomplete pictures in themselves. My other NT son also hates puzzles but can do them easily if forced to.

The teacher says D's fine motor skills are quite good so I don't think that is the problem.

I don't know what to say-I know if it were my son, I would probably have him try a few times, but if he doesn't get it, he just doesn't get it. It's not an excuse, it's an inability to connect the fact that you have random pictures laying around and actually being able to comprehend that you can assemble them into something bigger, and just remember, there are other ways he can go about learning it-you just have to find his learning style.

I don't see it as a problem if he tries a lot, but still doesn't get it... but I do see a problem with forcing him to do something over and over if it distresses him greatly and he never succeeds. I worry about self esteem issues when it comes to these things because I have very low self esteem myself not having the ability to easily connect information as others seem to be able to do, it was very bothersome to keep on thinking "everyone else can do this easily... or can at least understand-why can't I when I'm trying so hard all of the time?", and of course, that's about the time I'd be thrown more information to try to understand, lol. It just was not put into a form I can understand and grasp onto.

There are things you can try though, as finding ways to help understanding can help immensely later on in life I'm sure in coping with every day challenges. We each have our own learning styles, as you well know

I don't have problems with puzzles-I've always loved how the pieces fit together-I look at the shape, I don't think I really look at the image on each piece, but I keep the lid propped up so that I can see what it is supposed to look like as it develops (every half hour or so I glance up and compare) and I can use it as a reference every once in a while and make sure I have it turned the right way at least, lol. Maybe that would help if you can get him to focus on the shape rather than the actual picture (maybe turn the pieces over?)... but then again, I'm 26, lol. I still don't do well when focusing on a big picture and seeing just pieces in front of me though-that's why I don't use it as a reference often at all... it just confuses me.

Try to see what he is seeing, and see if you can draw a conclusion as to how to help him figure it out. My son is 5, and barely will touch a 10 piece puzzle, YET, he has a 20 piece puzzle of his dog at granny's house-she made it for him for Christmas. He will do that over and over and over, because he knows first hand what that picture is going to look like at the end-it's a picture of something familiar He doesn't even look at the individual pieces, he wants that overall image complete so that he can look at his dog He also enjoys letter puzzles, number puzzles, and puzzles with his name on them... all things he thoroughly enjoys. But if I hand him a puzzle from the store, he has a very rough time figuring out where the pieces once fit (even the 4-5 piece ones at times), because he doesn't know what it's supposed to look like, or just can't seem to draw the connection with unfamiliar images.

You could possibly try this technique if you want-take a picture of his favorite toy or teddy bear, and have it turned into a puzzle. He might connect better with the idea that it is going to be something familiar-he already knows exactly what that item is supposed to look like at the end, and might enjoy watching it form.

Then again, it might not work, lol, as it is all experimental.

Sorry if this is confusing, and I'm sure many others may have different views and other ideas. I hope it's helpful in some way

I hate the whole "cop out" arguement.

Any ASD is a severe pervasive developmental delay. It is not a "cop out". You would not ask a child with a lower then average IQ to keep up with the class in acedemics, and when they don't learn how to read or do math on time tell them that they are "copping out". With ASD, including aspergers, the child is going to have significant delays and difficulties in social reasoning, executive functioning and communication.

A young child with AS may shrink away from doing something they are not interested in. They don't see the point, and don't have that desire to perform for someone else. The fact the teacher expects them too, or the other kids are doing said activity, is not enough reason to make them want to do it, or try it. They don't respond to peer pressure and often don't respond to authority when they don't see the point. However, this can change, and children with AS can grow to become very much pleasers for certain authority figures, they follow the "laws" and become very "compliant". Almost to an extent that following the rules becomes a problem in itself. They won't bend or break them, they get very upset when others do. For example, I remember once my parents where renovating a house in a town about 40 minutes away. They wanted to stay another night and have us kids miss Monday at school, I was very upset because "you have to go to school unless you are sick". I had a report to hand in! I could not just MISS IT! In the end, my dad had to take me to school because I was histarical!

My son at 4, refused to learn to read. he hated it! He hated letters, he hated the whole idea of reading. It did not matter how much you begged pleaded or reasoned with him, he was not going to learn. It has caused a severe lag in his learning. He felt that I could read anything for him his whole life. He could not understand why he needed to learn it. Now it looks like he has Learning Disabilities, I think it was very difficult for him, it was confusing, he did not get it, and was applying the rule "if it hurts, don't do it". So we really had our work cut out for us! He is 12 now, readng about 2 grade levels behind, but reading none the less, so for that, we are greatful!

I wonder with your son if he has spatial sense problems, typical of those with a Non Verbal learning disability? I remember hearing that 80% of people with AS would also test positive for an NLD if that is the only problem that was being evaluated. They are not co morbid, but a lot of people with AS have similar difficulties.

Also, is it possible to find a higher interest puzzle? Perhaps one that features one of his interests? That might hold his attention better.

Is it possible to find an alternative activity for him?

Generally, I think it is Ok to walk away from it and not ask him to do it. He may be feeling a lot of stress trying to do this and in continuing the activity, the stress is mounting. He may learn to hate school, or his teacher or one on one time if it is spent doing things he abhoars.

Get comfortable with the idea that he may need alternate activities / teaching methods all through school. The idea is not to jam a square peg through a round hole, but try to make the round hole more square to fit the different shape!

Hi Boykie,

If this has anything to do with AS, then I think it's that your son doesn't get the idea of puzzles, the purpose of them, rather than finding them hard to do. We Aspies tend to be particularly good at seeing/visualizing how pieces fit together. Maybe if you get him a box of blocks that fit into the box only one way, he will like doing that, because the blocks are 3-D and will look more "real" to him? I loved doing that when I was a small kid, but I didn't like jigsaw puzzles until later (then with 1000 or more pieces), because I found the ones with few pieces too simple and uninteresting - "flat", literally and figuratively.

My son had an early aptitude for the toddler puzzles, but that's where it stopped. I bought a puzzle he'd really like but he gave up on it. I don't like puzzles at all, they seem interesting but too abstract. I've read in other literature that autistic children have a higher aptitude for them, but that's a generality.

I hated jigsaw puzzles as a kid; I found them very annoying. There were many pieces that would be very close, yet they wouldn't fit. Oftentimes, I'd lose patience, and well... have a meltdown. Eventually, I found a "solution". Whenever I worked on a jigsaw puzzle, I'd keep scissors on the table (yes, that's exactly where it's going). If there was a piece that was very close but didn't fit, I would just trim it with scissors, and put in into the puzzle. I ended up damaging two puzzles this way, before my parents stopped buying them.

Its probably one of three things:

He doesn't know what its supposed to look like.

He doesn't understand the concept of puzzles.

Hes not interested in it.

Thanks for all the input, everyone. We love this site as it is so experience-based and practical.

The teacher is just worried that he may have trouble with math skills later if he doesn't get ahead on this one. He can do other math-type things like putting different size boxes into each other and matching lids to jars. Also can match pictures, as in Jungle Lotto, but seems really bored.

He is due for another assesment by child developmental specialist soon so will put the question to her.

I'm a bit confused as to what jigsaw puzzles have to do with math. I always just thought it was putting shapes together and making a picture, lol! I feel like a complete idiot right now actually asking this... but what EXACTLY do they have to do with math? Is there a secret to this puzzle thing no one ever told me? *glances around suspiciously*

Also, keep in mind-I can do up to 5000 piece puzzles now if I *really* want to, but completely SUCK at math. I just can't learn most of it, and what I do learn, I rarely retain

Good luck with his next assessment

I would think that maybe puzzles have something to do with developing spatial sense which is considered under the mathematical umbrella.

I think everyone has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to math. They are all sort of inter related but you definately can "suck" in one area but be really good in others.

In Ontario we separate math into 5 areas:

Number sense and Numeration:
Your basice adding / subtracting / mult / dividing
Counting, Place Value

Measurement
Measuring anything from time, to distances and capacity / area, all that sort of stuff.

Geometry and Spatial Sense
Everything related to shapes and their properties
spatial sense as an intuition about shapes and relationships among shapes. Spatial sense involves the ability to recognize, visualize, represent, and transform geometric shapes

Patterning and Algebra
self explainatory

Data Management and Probability
charts, guessing the likelyhood of a certain outcome.

Personally though, I don't think puzzles are "nessisary" there are other spatial sense activites too.

I guess that makes sense, but I still find it amusing I can do lots and lots of puzzles when I want to, but cannot figure out algebra/geometry. I guess that kind of throws off the teaching theory with it?