Reading clocks.

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I believe so. I know it should be easy, but for some reason in my case, also, it just isn't as automatic as it seems like it should be:



24-hour time doesn't look or sound like time to me at first, and by the time I get myself into the mindset to think of it that way and begin to convert, suddenly I don't feel so sure anymore about regular time. Again, I get the feeling that, in my case at least, this is suspiciously similar to the way Dyslexia must be like for dyslexics.

I wonder if it's related to aspie multi-tasking problems?



EDIT: actually, now that I think of it, it's actually not so simple a thing as it might at first seem: the counting system involved with measuring time is actually non-decimal, thinking in terms of the numbers is an abstract process, looking at the clocks is a visual element while hearing some tell you the time is part of the complicated process of translating and understanding sound communication... you're hearing or seeing one thing, translating that into one abstract concept using a non-decimal number system, converting that into another abstract concept, mathematically converting that into a slightly different non-decimal number system, transferring that back into an abstraction, and then perhaps cuing that up into speech or writing. The human mind needs to be very flexible and adaptable to do this on the fly, something that I'm certainly not very good at!

Last edited by Yagaloth on 01 Oct 2006, 4:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sometimes I actually do the opposite: I turn 15:00 into 3:00, but then I think I only subtracted 10 so I end up with 1:00.

Anyway I'm getting better now, but that's because I'm sort of memorizing the equivalent times (now 17:00 feels the same as 5, even if I don't do any math).

yeah! and then i feel like i've gone into a loop and have to stop and take a breather, look at the time again and start over.



*nod* or i just check against the sunlight or double-, triple- check the clock in case i'd mis-read it. i really dislike looking at those segmented displays, i'm always misreading them, or thinking the panel might be faulty.

that's the main reason why i gave up on digital watches/clocks. problem is, the ticking of analogs annoys me to no end. there have been occasions where i simply could not concentrate on my work/exam papers or go to sleep due to the noise. so i simply gave up and stopped wearing watches.

a cool alternative was switching the time display on my handphone to a digital display of an analog face!

do you find your internal clock reliable though?



*scratches behind ear* can't say. i multi-task seemingly well, but it's only if i concentrate really hard. i have lists scattered all over the place because of this, it's my insurance against missing out on one seemingly easy task. but i believe this to be considered 'normal' for most people?



whenever i'm told the time in 24 hr terms, i give up and ask to see the time myself. it just seems too much trouble for my mind to process it and i'm never sure of the result anyway. i also have this 'quirk' where i know what a person is saying, but i hear it differently. when i repeat it to them to verify, they think i'm teasing them so i figure, hey, whatever, makes for a funny story too!

Should have been a poll, I have been very good at reading clocks and keeping track of time in my head-either according to the last time I saw a clock (measuring time increments) or from the sun (predicting time of day). I have feared that the pervasiveness of digital clocks have made it harder to teach time telling.
I didn't see a digital watch ever until I was about 9 or 10, probably didn't see one in use til my pre-teens.

I haven't worn a watch in about 15 years... mostly because I don't like the feeling of one on my wrist. My last watch was a rather nice one with a leather strap I'd gotten as a graduation gift... I chewed the strap to pieces (accursed stimming!) I replaced it with one of those stretchy metal wrist straps, which REALLY bugs me to death.

My internal clock is usually less than reliable. My brother, to my knowledge, has never worn a watch, and could always give us a time off the top of his head that was within 10 minutes of being perfect on a bad day, and usually much closer. That always seemed like a nearly magical accomplishment to me - certainly, one that was beyond my ability.



Fortunately, the ticking sound doesn't bother me too badly... usually I don't notice it at all. Actually, I've got a ticking analogue clock over my bed, even though I never look at it. Instead I look at the digital one with glow-in-the-dark LED's across the room... come to think of it, the LED's bother me worse than the ticking sound. Between that glowing clock and all the LED's on my computer, they all sometimes keep me from falling asleep.

I remember a funny thing said about time on a t.v show.
Two people were talking, the first person said, "Meet me back here at 2200hours."
The second person said, "What? But that's next week!"

LOL! i can totally relate to that!

what's stimming? overstimulation? i used to endure the straps of watches, i would pick the slimmest leather straps available, but i hated the smell of it. i can't wear metal wrist straps. i will always feel it 'grating' against my skin, it's almost like grinding my teeth.



yeah, such people amaze me. sometimes i can't even tell if it's day or night (then again i used to keep erratic sleep hours) and go into panic modes thinking i've slept a day away when it's only been 3 hrs (like waking at 7pm thinking it's 7am when i look at the sky)



any form of 'glowy' light in the dark bothers me. i've had to cover my brother's radio display with a t shirt because it glows ever so slightly even in sleep mode. i, in sleep mode, can detect that glow through my eyelids! i've learnt how to bear with the ticking sounds in classrooms/outside by focusing on another sound, or humming a song in my head. the best i've come to sleeping with a ticking clock is trying to match it to my heartbeat, but that's only if i don't tire myself out first before bed. i don't bother going to bed if i'm hyperalert, i would feel every single bump on my mattress if i do anyway, so why bother, eh? might as well do something else until i'm too sleepy to notice.

Wait - only 24 posts? I hadn't noticed until now... cool, you're even newer to this than I am - welcome to you, Snowfern

I hadn't heard of "stimming" until I started posting here a couple months ago... the Asperger's community have their own jargon describing some things I never knew had a name. You can think of stimming as something like a nervous tic or habit, a way to stimulate or distract when bored or nervous.

Some of the more common ones seem to be rocking, leg-bouncing, hand-waving, and hair-pulling - but there seems to be an infinite variety of stimming behaviours. Among other things, I got stuck with chewing my watch strap and shirt collars to shreds

thanks! are we hijacking the thread tho? :X



yeah when i'm nervous i used to suck and chew on my cross (that was until i couldn't stand the feeling of that necklace on me anymore), i bounce my leg alot and tend to pick and pinch at my hands but not consciously. i still find myself blinking more when i'm stressed, but i thought that happens to everyone :-/

i chew on pen caps and straws etc, but like i said, i thought everyone did it under stress, never thought it to be an 'aspie trait' ?

Yes!

I'm evil that way.



Perhaps it's a matter of degree - up to a certain point, it's just a sign you're nervous... past that point, it starts looking a little weird?

Or perhaps, in a quest to map out the boundries of what makes them different, "aspies" have focused in on ordinary nervous habits more than other people would, describing it in more detail than someone else would?

Or maybe Asperger's brings with it so much incidental stress and frustration, that they resort to normal stress reactions more often than "normal" people would?

If you're interested, here's The thread where I first heard of 'stimming', "Tell me, how do you stim?"






Slightly back to topic -


That's great - I wish I'd thought of that first! Now, I'm looking forward to an oppotunity to use that line

When I was a kid, I used to chew my T-shirt, and once it was wet, I'd be like 'Ooh!', and start sucking on it. Now it's on to leg bouncing, which is much less noticable, and FAR more temporary.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! !! !

This thread has helped me soo much - my 10-y-o was taught how to tell time in 1st, 2nd grade. I never realized he hadn't actually _learned_ to tell time. We moved here and he wanted a clock in his room. So, we put a battery-operated analog clock on the wall.

But, mom, can't I have a clock that works right? (i.e., digital).

So far, he still has a weak concept of time and can't really gauge 10 minutes or an hour, but he wanted a clock and then he couldn't read it.

I thought it was just odd but now I get it - like all other AS things, you either do it really, really well, or don't do it at all. I've noticed it has to be important to him before he'll learn it, it's like he has to own the need to learn.

Now I can scratch "telling time" off my list and just let him go digital. If he ever needs analog, he's smart enough to learn it.

I don't have any problems reading analogue clocks, but I prefer digital for time-telling; I like the preciseness. Much better being able to say, "It's 10.09", rather than, "Just coming up to ten past ten."

I say for time-telling, because I love analogue clocks in an aesthetic way. Especially the skeleton kind where you can see all the mechanics working away. The more things they have that move, the better I like them. I love anything that's mechanical, delicate and intricate like that.

Yeah I like those old mechanical analog clocks where you can see the gears moving as well (so long as they dont tick).

As for stimming the difference is for most people they are simply nervous habits.. for people with AS its something you do nearly constantly whether your nervous or not and its usually more intentional than a habit.