Arthur Explains Asperger's using WrongPlanet As An Example!

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I don't know if this was ever posted but God it really sums things up; the television show Arthur uses the wrong planet concept and does an excellent job of explaining Asperger's. If kids can get it, then why can't adults?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9eATBV-_lg

That was really awesome! I think they handled it great

Thankyou, it really helped. I showed my family and they have a better understanding now.

Aspie 168/200
Neurotypical 24/200

Yeah there is a video with the whole storyline and we talked about it before so you could add on to that thread.

Arthur is a smart show. Those liberal conspiring bastards at PBS really have it together. We'd better watch out for them.

We HAVE to import the upside-down smiley.

As for why kids can get it, but it's so much harder for adults?? Kids are used to listening-- and, unless they've been spending too much time around sh***y adults, to accepting whatever comes at them.

Adults, on the other hand, are used to telling. And judging. And putting others in their place.

Bullying children learn that behavior somewhere. Human nature sucks.

Really nice video . . . thanks for posting it

I thought George was dyslexic? How did he manage to read the article title what Alan gave him?

Dyslexics can read, I should know as I'm one of them. As a child I was always in the highest level reading class, when my own coping/learning methods failed the learning center intervened. Dyslexic does not equal illiterate.

lol. I remember seeing that very same episode at some point years ago and I never put two and two together... I think it was just playing in the back ground while I was focussed on other things.

I once had a professor ask me if I was dyslexic. I didn't think so, but I've wondered from time to time. Would you mind explaining to me what you sense makes you dyslexic?

I had a very hard time recognizing words, punctuation, letters, numbers, and being able to comprehend what I was reading in terms of context and withdrawing any real meaning from the written words traditionally. I cannot rhyme words unless it is a complete coincidence along with other common grammatical exercises in the way they are taught. I was tested and fortunately with the help of tutoring intervening and helping me do things "the teacher's way" and how I taught myself to read which is very "artistic and symbolic" (ie for me words are shapes with an associated sound and explanation, reading is abstract and intangible yet possible). I read and write differently than others and do make mistakes still in terms of reading or writing the wrong word due to shape of word or shape of letter. All language looks like computer code, but I have figured out how to decipher it and respectively all language that is written is treated the same a non-dyslexic would treat binary. If I didn't know how to "read" the way I taught myself before preschool I'm sure I would have been flunked grades instead of skipping them, I am very thankful I was tested when my performance dropped the second I couldn't keep up with my self teaching/coping. I don't think I would have been able to fulfill my verbal ability into print form without help imbedding cracking the codes. Early childhood for me in the eyes of a teacher knowing how I managed would have been considered "cheating" as I relied on a great memory, reasoning ability, and photographic memory (long story short, it is natural for me to cut and paste visual things conceptually or something of that nature). Nothing came with ease and in a way (conceptually and in regards to comprehension) I'm more advanced than the most traditionally "literate" types, but to keep up with an english class especially upper level college ones I have to read while having a book on tape and go over the text more than once to ensure I did not allow a coding error to slip in which taints the context.

I'm sorry if that was really long or incoherent, comorbid dyspraxia make me concerned since proofreading is NOT my strong suit LOL I'm glad I'm typing, in the 9th grade my school decided I was no longer allowed to write things by hand as my dysgraphia made it so teachers and even myself couldn't read my hand writing and it was very distracting to others. This is a common issue for the developmental learning disabilities, they often overlap on many of us. Dyslexia is a rather broad issue and has very little to do with "reversed letters" and things like that learned on TV, it's more of a computation error that occurs between the eyes and the brain that would not occur if we listened to exactly the same verbal account versus written form.

Hope that was helpful *note: I couldn't proof read this until I clicked submit since that soft green background helps the visual spacing and lessens the required mental bandwidth, do the site owners know this? It is a tutoring aid! *

Last edited by epitome81 on 13 Feb 2013, 5:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks for posting this. I think the makers of the show handled it very well, and provided an accurate, balanced view of Asperger's.

Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed seeing this finally explained to a degree.

I think they did a wonderful job. Perhaps in the future, adults will get it too.

Thanks for posting this video! This is the best explanation of Asperger's that I've come across in any TV show. This will definitely help children see what AS really is. Why can't they use this type of explanation of AS on other TV shows so that the adults can learn the truth about AS?

Thank you very much. Yes that was very clear and helpful. Some of what you said does resonate with me. I like to hear explanations like this from the source. I'm always hesitant to read and believe what a researcher says people experience in these types of situations when they themselves really have no first hand experience. And yes you are absolutely correct about the "reversed letter" explanations, because that's exactly what I originally understood dyslexia to mean when I was a kid.

Because adults are often too closed minded to the possibility that they're wrong, and they never learn anything because of it. Not saying it's not a good idea (it is), I just don't think it would open people's eyes. Even with all of the stuff currently out there to debunk the myths that are prevailant in todays society about AS and Autism, people still believe the lies that the media and the general public come up with before looking for facts, and it's in that time that they do the most damage, not only to us, but also to people around them by changing their perspectives about people on the spectrum.

In the end, they'd all say "oh it's just a tv show" and leave it in the void of what they perceive as fiction.