Children's memory with autism /PDD

[missypie]

Yes...and no. When DS was younger, I would read the Harry Potter books aloud to all three kids..he would have already read them. Occasionally I'd change a word that was too "British" to the more American usage, and he'd correct me every time. He can recite almost entire pages of the books...but then when he was learning multiplication, it took him YEARS to memorize the math facts!

The human brain is an amazing thing. When we had our DS tested in 4th grade, he was at 3rd grade level for some skills and 12+ for others. We had always thought he was great at putting together puzzles. It turns out that his puzzle putting together skills are VERY WEAK, but his memory is terrific, so after he got a puzzle put together one time, the next time he remembered where all the pieces went!

 

[Poohgirl]

hey, sounds like our sons are really similar!! My ds memorizes books, videos, etc, has the awesome memory, and did start reading at 4. (and not JUST things from memory...) My son does accents, pauses, etc too. It's amazing!

Yes! Mine does this as well. He was reading by 4 (memorizing) and "really" reading by kindergarden. He cracks us up with accents. We were walking down a boardwalk and he overheard an Asian woman speaking to her daughter in an Asian language and he startes speaking (loudly, I might add) just like her, If i didn't know better I would have thought he was actually SPEAKING the language!

 

[triplefigs]

Yes! Mine does this as well. He was reading by 4 (memorizing) and "really" reading by kindergarden. He cracks us up with accents. We were walking down a boardwalk and he overheard an Asian woman speaking to her daughter in an Asian language and he startes speaking (loudly, I might add) just like her, If i didn't know better I would have thought he was actually SPEAKING the language!

You should walk him around World Showcase. He'd be hilarious to follow around with all those accents. Very cute!

 

[kdtwiss]

My ds remembers evry darn grocery store, toy store, ice cream stand or McDonald's anywhere in the world we have ever been to before. He will always surpise me by asking "you want to go to CVS" or such before I even remember there is one on the road we are traveling. Unfortunately I think this gift our children has contributes in a big way to their disability. Imagine if every experience you ever had was on the forefront of your mind - the tip of your tongue- all the time. Imagine if you were unable to discriminate (as we all unconscously do) between what we need to hold onto in our memories and what we can discard. Then imagine having to muddle through all of that every second of the day - all the while accumulating more memories. Imagine how difficult to answer even simple question would be. My feeling is everything goes in - not just stuff we consciously accept, but the subtleties of time, temperature, smell, etc. that we simply just for the most part ignore, they can not . It ALL goes in, but stays in and anything that is able to get out has to fight past all of that. Anyway - just my .02.

 

[SueM in MN]

Imagine if every experience you ever had was on the forefront of your mind - the tip of your tongue- all the time. Imagine if you were unable to discriminate (as we all unconscously do) between what we need to hold onto in our memories and what we can discard. Then imagine having to muddle through all of that every second of the day - all the while accumulating more memories. Imagine how difficult to answer even simple question would be. My feeling is everything goes in - not just stuff we consciously accept, but the subtleties of time, temperature, smell, etc. that we simply just for the most part ignore, they can not . It ALL goes in, but stays in and anything that is able to get out has to fight past all of that. Anyway - just my .02.

My DD is not autistic (cerebral palsy, ADD). She gets "stuck" on certain things and how they should be to the point of being almost unable to do anything.
For a while she was "stuck" on drinking fountains. It was like she had radar to to locate them, but I figured out she must be remembering where they were (she only had to use ones she had used in the past and she would head for them way before she could have seen them).

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I really dont think the little boy we help at church has a good memory. He is pretty much non verbal. But what he does say is pretty much inappropriate to the setting but I am just glad he is verbalizing since his parents never seem to encourage it at all. They just hold his hand and lead him around etc. He does have PPD and doesnt interact well with the other kids in the nursery, doesnt do anything with a group, cant do puzzles and is not interested in playdough. The only thing he likes is putting a car down a mountain, loves the cause and effect of it. He did say something from blues clues consistently for an hour. Drove my ds nuts but I told him just to keep letting him talk. It was more just of a repitition type thing not used in any appropriate context but I think any step is a step forward so I encourage it. I just wish his parents would cooperate more with everybody and tell us how to help him, what skill he is working on so we could try that too etc. Its a difficult situation because the parents always are so defensive or questioning you if you say something etc.