remembering names

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Does anyone with AS have trouble remembering names? Last year my son didn't seem to ever remember the names of any of the children in his class. When he talks to other kids he just says for example hey red shirted guy. I think it would help him to better communicate if he could learn their names. Does anyone have any tips on how we can accomplish this for second grade : Thank you.

I sort of have a double problem here.

First off, I get similar names confused with one another ('similar' being what my mind thinks are similar, of course... I can get names confused that most normal people would never mix up!)... and if I haven't seen someone for a while, I'll have a hard time trying to recall their name. My poor auditory processing doesn't make that any easier; whenever anyone introduces himself, it sounds to me like 'Hello, my name is Blah.' I do much better when I've seen names in writing!

But what makes things even worse is that I also have mild prosopagnosia, also known as face-blindness... essentially, this means that I sometimes have trouble recognizing people until I've gotten to know them fairly well, and even then I'll have trouble identifying them out of context.

My son has a horrible time with names.

Last year he was a teacher's aide for a preschool program. He was there once a week. It had six kids and after a year he only remembered one name....

BeeBee

There is like some part of the brain that decides if the information should be stored or deleted and I can't seem to convice it that names should be stored (and part of sentences like "my coworker's daughter"). I forget these things less than one second after I hear them. And I also have prosopagnosia so that doesn't help either. Seeing names written makes it easier to remember them, and making word plays with someones names and repeating if over and over in my head after the person says it.

Maybe that's the key...finding ask his teacher to give you the name of one or two kids your son plays with. Then, one at a time, introduce the name to his memory via multisensory games. Make sure, for example, that he understands when you say "John" you mean the red haired child that sits next to him. Then let him write John's name (as he says it) on the tub wall with those bath colors, in a pile of sand, in a tray of shaving cream, etc. Each time remind him who John is. As you see other things with a red color (in this example) as if its a lighter or darker shade of red than John's hair. Right now he's probably just hearing it and its not sinking in.

Its gonna be a bit harder to do this with a 12 year old though (my son).

Barb

Thank you Berri Codeman and BeBe. Your explanations of this problem are a big help in understanding my son and what might work for him. I will try the word games and writing down the children's names. I might take a picture of some key kids during the open housr at the school and write their name beside their faces. Codeman, mY whole family is directionally challenged in fact it is a running joke among my family and extened family members.

This comes from my experience as a neuro-d (aspergers) as well as a kid therapist. There are two aspects I know of to remembering names. One is interest, and the other is context.

The easiest way would be for everyone to wear nametags. This could be made into a game or a class activity. Another way would be for him to get a picture of everyone in the class, and then you and he could play a matching game with faces and names.

I am more interested in things than people, so if there is an interesting thing about someone it may help me remember their name. Also, if I see them in the same place frequently and they tell me their name or I write or think it (this is if I can remember it), I usually can remember it. I also laughingly tell people it's going to take five or more introductions before I can remember them. Then the next time when I apologize for not recognizing them, they laugh with me.

For me, it takes many introductions to know someone, and then it's only context specific. So I am sure I have seen my therapist in public but because I don't know her outside of the office, I actually haven't seen her. Apparently, she's seen me. I had a partner for 10 years. We broke up and I didn't see her for about four months, and I forgot to get a picture of her. She came up to me at a local event and it took a minute for me to recognize her. I ask everyone I want to remember for their picture so I don't forget what they look like.

For me, it hasn't gotten better with age. It's better when there are fewer people to remember.

Hope this helps

I kinda have a double issue with it, some individuals I'll recognize a name for (very rarely) and others I'll remember the person for appearance and there have been times I'll remember only a name but can't place face at all. In general though, I'm very poor with remembering names and can't stand it, it's frustrating because my hubby will ask if I remember so and so and I can't remember.

I just don't get an emotional impulse to care about people's names. Traditionally I remember the person for how we interact and for vauge facial features, but not for the name.

However, if I make sure to call someone by their name several times soon after meeting them, and 'think' the name in association with them, then I remember it easily. I've gotten more consistent at this as time goes on, although I have to remember to make the effort.

I recognize faces, but I can never remember who the person is! I hate it when people come up to me and address me by name, and I'm like, OK, you look familiar but who the h*** are you? So many familiar, nameless people in my life!

I can't remember names for anything - I helped train a person at work and I didn't know her name reliablity until about a month ago . . .

I have the same problem with recognizing people - probably due to the fact that I am generally looking at their feet . . . but even if I look at the rest of them groups of people look alike and I have trouble looking at the rest of them - all men with beards remind me of each other, all men with grey hair, all women with grey hair, etc . . . this is really heightened for me by the fact that we wear uniforms at work - so when we have days (like Christmas) when we get to not wear uniforms I am suddenly surrounded by people who I recognize their voices but have to really look to recognize them . . .

Oh - and my best friend shaved his beard off about 2 years ago and I'm FINALLY recongizing him based on his appearance rather than his clothing, scent (does anyone else do this - I can reliabily tell who has been in a room based on scent), and the sound of his voice . . .

Although I sometimes have difficulty remembering faces, mostly it's a matter of me knowing the faces and knowing the names, but not knowing which ones went together. At a summer math program I was in, after a whole month of being in the class with about nineteen other people, while we were playing a name game in which one had to quickly identify the name upon seeing the face, I said the name of another person in the class, not realizing that the name I'd said belonged to someone who looked completely different.

I can often remember people's names, but if they are not sitting in the same spot or in the same context, I may not recognize the person's face at all. For instance, during another name game in which one must recite the names of everyone in the class who came before them, I said every name very quickly, but mostly I think that was due to the fact that there was a specific order and no one moved to a different spot.

I tried really hard during each name to focus on the face of the person to go with the name, not the location or context, but it didn't work. I only learned to identify four people in my group and a few others. If everyone wore the same clothes every day, I think I'd be able to recognize them, which is why it often takes a longer time for me to know someone: by then, I've seen what most of their clothes look like.

Keep in mind that I'm only fifteen and with effort and time, I think things will get better, as things already are much better for me than in elementary school. It was then that everyone's face and voice seemed like some fog indistinguishable from my environment, but clarity has begun to accumulate for me.

I also do better when I see something in writing. With math (or most other things), sometimes I can't understand a word that's spoken (all the words run together and break up into meaningless sounds), but when I see it written, I feel like saying, "Why didn't you just say so?"

I hope you find the most effective solution soon. ^_^

Faces are not a problem for me. Names are rather difficult, and I've pretty much set up my life around the awesome blessings of the pronoun. If everything proves futile, I suggest teaching your child to use pronouns in a polite way, and perhaps to use "Do I know you from somewhere" if the face reconizaiton is a big prob. . . .