Mac or PC Mind?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2005
Mac or PC Mind?
9
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 4:21am

Today I overheard my 7yo Aspie DD, Eva, explaining to her friend how she was 'different' from Normal People. I thought it was one of the best explainations I've ever heard. I'll try to remember exactly how she worded it...

Basically she asked her friend if he'd ever seen the Mac vs. PC comercials, and he said yes. She said that Normal People are Macs and she's a PC. She's not quite as efficient at proccessing things, but over all she can do the same things, though it usually takes her a little longer to get the same things done. She explained that it takes her longer because, like the PC, she has to be prompted to continue on to each step. She said that sometmes her brain brings up the prompt and she has to think about it before she can do it, where a Mac doesn't have to think about it, it just does it. BUT, added to that, her prompter in her brain doesn't always do it's job and she doesn't get prompted to make a decision when she needs to be. She further explained that sometimes Mom or Dad catch it and prompt her. But, sometimes the decision gets over looked entirely, and she doesn't get prompted at all.

So then she asked if that helped him understand and he said "Yes... but... why don't you just get a new prompter?" to which she replied "It's what my mom would call a Hardware Problem." This inspired a very knowing "AHHHHHHH" from her friend and then they decided to see who could jump higher with no running start.

Just had to share that... and, are kids getting smarter? And is my DD watching too many comercials?

~Candes

APOV on Autism

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
In reply to: sg_1niner
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 7:46am

Dear Candes,

WOW!!! What a great explanation and what a great kid!!! I do love hearing about your kids, and knowing you are homeschooling, wish we lived nearer so I could bring Malcolm over to play and study and let me pick your brain about teaching!

I think Malcolm (at age 9, who watches no TV, BTW, because that would take away from his allowed GAMING time LOL) would totally get this explanation, if we had a need to give it to him. And as we really start to explain the big dx picture, hey, I just may steal that, as computers are one of his things of course of course...

Because so many of Malcolm's friends are like him, I think he doesn't see all that much need to differentiate between his ASD and NT friends. He knows about the specific difficulties his brain has, though, and knows which of his friends are like him and which are not.

Thanks for sharing!!

Sara

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2003
In reply to: sg_1niner
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 9:25am

She's BRILLIANT! But hey, we already knew that, didn't we?!?! ;-)

Amy

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Avatar for littleroses
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Registered: 03-28-2003
In reply to: sg_1niner
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 10:01am

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-16-2006
In reply to: sg_1niner
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 11:03am
that is totally cool..and if Miss eva doesn't mind, i may use it to help explain things around here...
Avatar for betz67
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: sg_1niner
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 1:40pm

ROFLOL! now that's an explaintion my DH would get, me on the other hand I don't have a clue what she's talking about. Cool that she got so much out of a commercial!

Betsy

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
In reply to: sg_1niner
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 6:48pm

Candes,


ROFL that is hysterical!!!


However, I have a question: Was she only referring to

-Paula

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2005
In reply to: sg_1niner
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 7:53pm

I think she was referring to the entire series because she has a habbit of quoting things from other comercials too. Just today when going over a technique in math she said "See! I didn't have that periferal before." She meant the technique, thus the reason she was having problems completing the problem.

~Candes

APOV on Autism

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2007
In reply to: sg_1niner
Thu, 02-22-2007 - 4:54am
I think this analogy is brilliant on many levels! When we are out in public and my son runs into someone he knows he acts exactly like the PC guy. He is stiff and very awkward. Really uncomfortable looking. When the Doctor refers to "natural and easy social interaction" I think of the MAC guy. Your daughter is wise beyond her years!
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2005
In reply to: sg_1niner
Thu, 02-22-2007 - 2:42pm

"Your daughter is wise beyond her years!"

My DH read that and threw his head back and laughed. He said, "Yes, wise beyond her years... and yet she can't follow 2-step instructions." He agrees it's a great analogy, and that's coming from the man we call His MajAspie. But he found it humorous because he'd just had an incident with Eva just 5 minutes before where she asked if she could play his X-Box and he jokingly said "Yes. But, only if you make my bed first" (His X-Box is set up so that you have to sit on the bed to play it). So she says "Okay" and runs off to do that before he can tell her he was joking. Then she comes back a few minutes later and says "I made your bed. NOW can I play X-Box?" He explained to her that A) he was joking, he didn't really expect her to make his and mommy's bed, and B) that it was a 2-step instruction and that meant that completion of the first part automatically grants permisions to proceed unto the second part. He spent a few minutes talking to her about it and explaining how and when that works.

Of course, part of that expanation was telling her about how he had the same problems when he was younger. DH: "... like when I was 42yo." Eva: "But dad, you're 43yo now!" DH: "I am?"

~Candes

APOV on Autism