When I was 4 or 5 I took refuge in a math book

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beneficii
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01 Apr 2015, 9:51 am

When I was 4 or 5, at a preschool I took refuge in a math book. I remember the motivation was to shut myself off from the surrounding social environment. While I read the math book, I felt a lot better than I felt before, and I remember seeing fog as my focus narrowed onto the math book, and it was like the other kids weren't even there. I did the addition and subtraction, but turned to a page with pirates on top and inequality problems, which I didn't know how to do yet.

Anyone else with similar experiences?


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MollyTroubletail
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01 Apr 2015, 9:55 am

Yes, I spent all my time in primary school sitting under my desk reading a book. At first the teachers tried to make me stop doing it, and later they just ignored me and pretended I was invisible.



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01 Apr 2015, 12:56 pm

For me it was that giant book for kids / young teenagers about the human body. It had amazing diagrams and fascinating facts. I used to read it in the playground when I was 5-6 years old. Was far more interesting than playing games with the other kids, and anyway nobody liked me.


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Kiriae
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01 Apr 2015, 1:55 pm

I don't remember that myself but apparently during math lessons my preschool teachers had to give me much harder/longer math problems to solve and then watch me carefully because once I finished my exercises I could steal other kids books and solve any math problems they haven't fill yet. :lol:
When I entered 1st grade of primary school I surprised teachers with my math abilities equal those of 3rd graders.



MollyTroubletail
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01 Apr 2015, 2:03 pm

Haha, I used to do the other kids' homework for them also, because doing homework was much more fun than playing games with them. :lol:



beneficii
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01 Apr 2015, 2:53 pm

Once, in 2nd grade, while we were watching Disney's The Little Mermaid, I was bored with it 'cause I had watched many times already, so I went and finished my 2nd grade math book. I told my teacher I finished it and they gave me a 3rd grade math book. I, however, had trouble adjusting to the fact that you couldn't write in the book, so it was a sorta failed experiment.

And yes this was in special ed.


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Raleigh
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01 Apr 2015, 3:02 pm

I still take refuge in mathematics, which is odd because I failed maths miserably at school. Algebra did my head in. My mind wouldn't allow letters to be associated with numbers.


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02 Apr 2015, 4:04 am

I didn't take refuge in a maths book when I was 4 or 5. I couldn't understand maths at that age.

I took refuge in reading books though which my teachers didn't seem to mind (I learned to read when I was about two-and-a-half). When I was six years old, I remember my teacher giving me a Level 7 (for ages 15-16) reading book for a challenge, and finding it interesting.



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02 Apr 2015, 4:17 am

This is exactly what I just spent 3 months doing in the largest software company on the planet. I guess you might say 7 tflop workstations are the modern equivalent of math books...


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02 Apr 2015, 6:47 am

I wasn´t a math-girl and I didn´t teach myself to read early, but when I learned the alphabet, it came quickly. I "ate" books from the shelves at home and took refuge in the family encyclopedy as soon as I could. It was a perfect universe with scientific articles explaining everything in this world. I could block out school experience and all kinds of anxiety.
The other refuge was the piano and doing my own stuff: A world with it own language.


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RobertLovesPi
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02 Apr 2015, 6:55 am

To answer the original question . . . sort of. Definitely, I read a lot of math books when very young (and still do), but I wasn't taking refuge in a math book, so much as I was devouring new concepts in mathematics as fast as I could find them.

I now realize this was an early stage in the development of a special interest in a young Aspie, but no one knew that until decades later. More details, for anyone who is interested: https://robertlovespi.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/my-early-play-with-informal-numbers-such-as-umpteen-a-look-at-early-development-of-a-special-interest-in-a-young-person-with-aspergers/


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Joe90
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02 Apr 2015, 10:12 am

I couldn't even read at that age!

I was rather average with everything when I was a young child. At preschool I remember playing with toys like any other typical child. I found it hard to focus on things like puzzles. The teachers at preschool would encourage kids to come and build a puzzle (it's good for a child's development), and I would begin to fit the pieces together, but then get distracted. I was much more comfortable playing with things like dolls houses, where I could use my imagination.


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