Difficulties with evaluating things with numbers

Post Reply New Topic

Hi,

my friend can't self-evaluate things with numbers, like for example how strong is the pain she's feeling or how succesful she was at something, on a scale from 1 to 10. Could it be related to Asperger's? Does someone else too have same kind of difficulties?

That's me too!! I'm glad to hear I'm not alone!

I just cannot do this with any confidence of accuracy. I am not a number-oriented person, and I don't relate well to numbers. I'm a word and visual person and was terrible at mathematics in school. Numbers are not something I "feel" or relate to very well at any level. They are not my forte for most purposes.

So even being asked what my pain level is from 1 to 10, or to rate a film on 1 to 10 -- I can't do it! It doesn't make any natural, instinctive sense to me.

I do understand that the 1 is least and the 10 is most, but in between that I just can't get my head to quantify according to a number. I just know the pain is excruciating or tolerable.

Hi BirdInFlight, and thanks for your reply. Nice to hear about your experiences.

My friend would like to know about this: if someone asks her to estimate something with numbers, and she's not able to do it, could she say it's related to Asperger's, or is this a separate difficulty? She has not found any information about this. Does anybody know if this is related to Asperger's?

I have no idea if this is related to Asperger's or not, to be honest.

If anything, I would not have thought so, as there is even a stereotype of Aspie that is super-orientated toward numbers and very much relates easily to numbers, which would probably include gravitating toward number-evaluations like this kind of thing.

So I really don't know if this inability to make number-based evaluations has anything to do with Asperger's at all -- it may be that it's not. All I know is I'm like this very strongly but it could be nothing to do with my ASD and just an individual thing.

Maybe it's more to do with a general non-math mind -- I'm poor at mathematics in every way, so it's no surprise that I don't like numbers, in a sense, and won't be attracted toward "thinking numbers" when asked to rate things.

Is your friend a person who has no head for mathematics in general? Maybe it's more to do with that and would be the same even in a non-math-minded NT.

Here's what I recommend. These 1 to 10 scales aren't meant to be precise. If you have a strong reaction, rate the thing either 1 or 10. If you have no reaction, rate it a 5 or 6. If you are mildly one way or the other (not entirely neutral), pick a number between 1 and 5 on one end, or between 6 and 10 on the other end.I

Anyone who can't pick a number in the right general range, is overthinking the question.

A lot of doctor's offices now have a graphic on the wall to help with pain estimates. They have a very frowny face on the 10 end, and a smiley face on the 0 end. There are intermediate faces in the middle range. That way a person not comfortable with these rating scales can just pick a face that matches how they feel.

I have chronic pain but it's pretty well managed. At a doctor's office, when asked to rate my pain, I say something like, "it's about a 3 today - and I don't usually medicate until it's 4 or above." That tells them two things. It says I have some pain (not zero) but not a disabling degree of pain. And secondly, that I'm not a pill seeker. Or I tell them "It's a 6, and I usually medicate at about 4." That tells them the pain is now significant.

But then why can't we just use those terms, ie, "some pain," "disabling pain" significant pain"?

If the numbers can correlate to descriptive terms, why not just use the descriptive terms?

I just deeply don't see why they ever had to be a number rating.

Your suggestion of how to think of it is helpful but yet it still drives me crazy when it actually comes to assigning the number. It just can't be a "3" or a "6" or whatever. Even in trying to use your method, my mind starts rebelling and I just want to use words not numbers.

I've always been a word person.

I was once in the ER for a gallbladder attack. The nurse asked me on a scale of one to ten, how much pain I was in. I said eleven. She then proceeded to tear a strip off me for being a smart-ass.

Fortunately, the ER doc overhead her and basically told her to shut up and give me a shot of morphine. Something about gallbladder attacks being horribly painful (uh, yah!). Also, something about the patient being autistic (uh, hello Nurse Ratched - try reading the chart).