How many ways of thinking for Aspies/Autism?

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JWS
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17 Apr 2011, 10:24 pm

Hi, everyone! I would like to re-visit and old question, if I may?
I would like to know how many different ways of thinking everyone here might have. I mean, I have heard of visual, verbal/logical, and math/music ways, but might there be even more ways?
I'm really curious what the answer(s) to this question is/are...
Thanks in advance! :)



swbluto
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17 Apr 2011, 10:28 pm

There's also a rotational way of thinking. Basically, everything goes in circles - Ideas tend to follow a logical chain that's circular or recursive in nature (Like ouroboros, except without the self-cannabilism), and there's a fascination for spinning objects.



MisterJ
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18 Apr 2011, 1:12 am

I have absolutely no idea how I would describe my thinking process. I know that if I have to verbalize a thought, though, I try and pretend I'm telling the thought to someone I know. Other than that, words don't play a big role In my thinking.



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18 Apr 2011, 1:20 am

Like said above there's a very patterned logical way of thinking that follows a set group of rules, however it might be technically very logical and still make no sense to the outside observer, for example:

An aspie boy must always have his lunch/tea before dinner, regardless of the time of day, one day he forgot to get his tea, when he's at a dinner party later he starts becoming very distressed that he hasn't had tea yet, however his dad knows that in his boy's mind that the "tea" meal is not defined by what you eat, but simply as the meal before dinner, so he brings him into the kitchen to eat a peice of bread and says "this is your tea", the boy complys and is fine afterwards

it's logical, but it can be a very distored logic, that's one way of looking at it.

There's also the "thinking in pictures" as Temple Grandin said it, a lot of autistics are very good visual thinkers, as opposed to verbal thinking.

My thinking is akin to the constant static of being tuned into every channel on TV at once, or that noise you hear when you tune a radio between stations.


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auntblabby
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18 Apr 2011, 8:15 am

my thinking process has always been jejune and rudimentary. when i was young, it was "my way [of thinking] or the highway" in that i absolutely was deaf and dumb to any other way of thinking, with no "theory of mind" to speak of.



wavefreak58
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18 Apr 2011, 8:27 am

The cliche is "If you've met one autistic you've met one autistic". It applies rather nicely to thinking patterns. Anbuend has some fascinating posts on her perceptions and processing. I think in several modes, my favorite being a nonverbal, nonvisual "space" that is "pure thought" (that sounds pretentious, but I can't describe it any other way). Anbuend talks about thinking in a sensory space. No words, just sensation processed in a way that allows her to interact with her environment. Each of these cognitive spaces are difficult to translate to words. But they are very real.


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bumble
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18 Apr 2011, 8:48 am

I don't really know how to describe my pattern of thinking...I do think in both words and pictures. Most of the time I think in words but if someone says something like "caught between the devil and deep blue see" or "frying my brain" I get the meaning in words but see a picture of the literal interpretation in my head at the same time (not nice in the case of the latter saying lol). Memories are mostly played back in video format in my head (which can come complete with sound). That was handy when I was at college as I could replay parts of lectures that I was interested in, especially as I couldn't write very neatly and reading my notes would have been impossible lol. I still have bits of lectures in my head although they are fading now as it's a long time since I went to college lol. Also handy as I was one of those irritating people who never needed to revise for exams but who still got an A grade lol.



JWS
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18 Apr 2011, 11:47 am

swbluto, bumble, I can relate to the ways of thinking you both mentioned. I know I also think in both words and pictures (and my wife says I tend to talk in analogies; and a friend always said I spoke in "mixed metaphors"), and my interests tend to return to me on a circular path (example: I will lose interest in something, but will become re- interested in it months, or sometimes years later).
Hopefully I will be able to learn of even more ways of thinking, here. I find things like this fascinating! :D



JWS
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18 Apr 2011, 12:02 pm

wavefreak58, I found what you had to say very interesting, too. And I intend to check out what Anbuend had to say about her way of thinking.
I can tell I still have much to learn! :lol:



anbuend
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18 Apr 2011, 4:36 pm

A lot more than three. Temple Grandin (who thought up those three) has a tendency to oversimplify things into oblivion.

I once posted a very long list on here but I've never been able to find it again.


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Verdandi
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18 Apr 2011, 5:05 pm

anbuend wrote:
A lot more than three. Temple Grandin (who thought up those three) has a tendency to oversimplify things into oblivion.

I once posted a very long list on here but I've never been able to find it again.


I spent hours looking as well. Drives me up the wall.

I think I'll try again.

Oh, and I think visually, but I am good with music and writing, so I don't even fit into Temple Grandin's categories for what thinking means.

I did do some drawing and art as a child, but for some reason I stopped, and I wouldn't say it was amazing.



JWS
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18 Apr 2011, 9:47 pm

Thank you for stopping by, Anbuend! Truly, I want to thank everyone who has already contributed.
I would have loved to see your list, Anbuend! If you could repost it here, I would really appreciate it.
Seems to me that the autism spectrum is truly broad, and only God truly knows how many different ways our thinking could follow...



andrew_w
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19 Apr 2011, 3:36 am

Two more modes of thinking found in autistics are motion/kinesthetic and what could probably best be described as "metasensory patterns".

Rather than one universally preferred method of thinking, I have two groups of modes of thinking that are essentially localized into upper and lower layers. The upper layer of my mind is logical, verbal, and mathematical, and the lower layer is visual, kinesthetic, metasensory, emotional, and musical. The lowest part of my lower layer processes things in a purely sensory way, although this effect is nowhere near as pronounced for me as in some other autistics. I am capable of a relatively high degree of integration between my two layers, but they are still distinct.



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19 Apr 2011, 4:20 am

Well according to the sterotype I should be a nerdy mommas girl who follows all the rules society sets forth and is frusterated that even though I follow all the rules and get expceptional grades in college(not really of course). And I don't drink or smoke marijuana...lol serioulsy this stereotype crap is annoying I do not fit the sterotype at all.



keira
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19 Apr 2011, 4:45 am

One of the ways I'm thinking is in schemes. I draw a scheme (whether on paper or in my mind) whenever I need to understand or explain something. I can apply this to anything even emotions.



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19 Apr 2011, 9:46 am

how many kinds of jungle does the earth hold
how many kinds of deserts

but you have to travel to know this


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