Question for the Aspies - Imagination vs. Reality

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Yeah in many ways I agree for sure.

As far as my imagination, it was much more vivid when I was younger, now as an adult it has dimished a lot. *sighs*

When I was between 9 and 11 my family lived in an apartment. My mother worked so I had a set of keys to let myself into the apartment for the hour before mom got home from work. I lost or misplaced those keys about once or twice a month. Whenever I lost the keys I would have to sit in the lobby or outside the apartment door to wait for my mother to get home from work. Those were the best times. I distinctly remember sitting in the hallway lost in my daydreams. My imagination was very rich and powerful. I could entertain myself for quite sometime just sitting and stimming while being very quiet.

I think one of the hard things about being an Aspie child is that often activities at school and the games that other children play don't match the sophistication or extraordinary abilities of the Aspie child. I can remember always feeling somewhat disappointed with the lack of creativity and intelligence that my playmates used in their games and activities.

I would go with reality.

I was a very imaginative child, something that through me a bit when i was looking into AS because there are quiet a few mentions about imaginative play and how AS children are supposed to lack it. I did nothing but imaginative play, with a complex and ordered set of games which i never tired of and make belive worlds in my head.
This imagination and my love of books and reading has meant that i have a talent for writing fiction and a dedication to my writing that many of my friends and family envy.
I was allways very content in my fantasy worlds, they made me very happy and very secure in my own skin.

AS is a spectrum condition, so there is a wide range of things that can and can't be defined as AS. It could even be possible that some "typical" qualities may be exacerbated by having AS, in a similar way as one's remaining senses are heightened when one sense does not work. With neurological conditions, it can be really hard to tell, and how the brain works is still a mystery. There's no such thing as the best fit, though it would be ever so great if we could find that best fit that we would fit into. Everything would then be explained, but nothing is that simple.

I think in terms of imaginative play, they tend to rely much more on imitating other children. I have also read that the imitation of television characters or comic book heroes does not fit into that imitation idea. Why that is, I can't say for sure. I would think the same processes at work imitating other children are the same as imitating comics or television characters.

I think it was one of Atwood's books in where this style of imaginative play was discussed, though I forget which one it was now. Whatever book it may have been, there was this mention of a kid with aspergers who was seen in his yard going through the roles of making bread, step by step. He did all of this alone, and that is the key. Aspie children tend to play alone and not with others that much. They'll be the ones playing in their front yards without any other kids around, and they may seem perfectly content with that.

- Ray M -

I know which quote you're referring to Ray. I just read it again the other day. I'm okay with his imaginative play. I would rather him be vocal about it versus hiding it because it gives me an idea of what's going on in his head at the time. Depending on what he's acting out, I can also gauge his level of anxiety which is helpful.

But I wish other people who are in his life a lot were not as concerned. It's causing him more anxiety.

Last edited by CelticGoddess on 03 Aug 2006, 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Love the onion. LOL

Trust me, I am not the type to have over the top reactions. When it interfers with absolutely everything else that he does, then yeah, I get concerned. However, I feel that the psychosis possibility is over the top.

I had a very active imagination when I was young. I shouldn't worry too much. Imagination is definitely a kid thing and add Asperger's into the equation and you have the potential for one powerful fantasy life. I can't speak for anyone else, but I learned how to better use my imaginative skills and not get carried along with them quite so much. I think with age, he'll either learn how to manage it better or will not be quite so carried away by his fantasies.

And as long as they're not hindering him in any way or endangering him, they're a great means for getting away from life and recuperating a bit.

Hi
you do touch on a possibly serious matter,
my 13 yr old wants to be a werewolf,
yes you heard it right, he had watched a
movie and now is so transfixed that
he is perusing the web for all info
on werewolves and how to become one,the other
night he was just sitting outside waiting for the sun to set,
I asked him if he is waiting for a full moon, (which he was..)

I am just hopeing when he does not get hairy with fangs ect..
that he will move on to something better, he had been into
Pokemon (said they were real) this lasted for 3 years.
I am worried about this severe turn toward "dark things"
that he is infatuated with, I know I know, middle school, but it is worriesome
none the less.

I'd worry if there actually were werewolves.

Though maybe you could give him a calendar which shows the moon cycles so he's not sitting outside every night. Or get him to study the history of the werewolf and how the folklore came to be. There's books like that out there. That way, you'd help root him a little more in reality and, who knows, he could become a werewolf folklore expert (they do exist, along with Vampire folklore experts-- actual PhDs who study werewolves and vampires throughout history).

CelticGoddess-
Chris has a wonderful imagination. I think it is a great way for kids to escape when things get to be too much. Certainly better than seeking bad influences like drugs as a means of escape which a lot of people do. I find as I am sure you do to be such an honorable trait that you can tell your in law to butt out(or you can tell her it is better than drugs...). I have to do that with relatives from time to time. I have encouraged Chris to read (another good way to imagine and escape) and we talk about the books together. Chris has encouraged his younger sibs to be imaginative as well. His brother (2) allready jumps right into Star Wars and pirate play with Chris with his own little action guys (Chris does not want to share you know).

I think an active imagination is one of the better AS traits!!

Katherine

CelticGoddess:
We all have that capacity. It is systematically drummed out of us in school. It is neither dangerous or abnormal. To the psychiatrists, I say BS! I happen to write and publish fiction for a living, and without that capacity, I couldn't function.

I don't externalize it (anymore), but I was in my late thirties when I stopped.

Good Luck
btdt

[quote] That was me, big time. Between ages 5 and 9, I completely transformed my daily life into a video game. [/quote}

I did that! I used to walk down the street and pretend that the concrete parts of driveways were those hole things that you fall into on Mario games, and that I had to touch trees to get points.


.... It must have looked... interesting... to anyone who was watching....

My 12-year old Aspie daughter has a very active imagination and she spends countless hours on Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh related things. Movies, writing stories, and discussing it with anyone who will listen.

Even her therapist has tried to get her to stop talking Pokemon but she keeps going back to it time and time again. You could be talking about making coffee or whatever and she will turn it into a Pokemon discussion.

I think it's over the top and wish I could turn her attentions to something that at least has the chance to serve her in some way later in life; something she can turn into a career or something.

It's frustrating.

I think the psychosis suggestion may be coming from the erroneous belief that people on the spectrum don't have imaginations. It was one of the first things brought up when my son was diagnosed. So, if a professional sees what looks like imaginative play and he denies what it is, he has to make up something else.
My son clearly has a vivid imagination (as do his parents) and that led to one teacher saying he probably isn't autistic. She thought he had some other learning disability or anxiety disorder.

Autism is so misunderstood that there are a lot of professionals out there that just have the wrong things drilled into their head.

When my son was 2 1/2, we had "First Steps" "intervention". One of the exercises that I was instructed to do with him was "imaginitive play", some Little People on a school bus skit. I couldn't do it. I figured I had same "lack". It's really just a dumb activity.

Yeah, that's for sure.
When my son was being diagnosed, one of the 'pros' was in disagreement with the other, because my kids, both, love and need hugs. There are many touches, textures and various stimulations that they have a difficult time with, but not hugs. That is a misunderstood sticking point that many still seem to not get. My kids official diagnosis is PDD-NOS, but the 'smart' psych is leaning towards AS at this point, with my son. He's 7 and will be further evaluated next month.

My kids are both very adept at collecting data, re-arranging it and echoing it back in a new, more imaginative form. They are so good at this, that even their uncles and aunts, who see them regularly, don't recognize their echoing. When it becomes crude and involuntary, I know they are having a really bad day.