November Newsletter

It’s the Grey Areas That May Confuse!

During my time as a therapist with the North Carolina TEACCH program, we conducted weekly social group meetings with adults on the autism spectrum. It was an opportunity to talk about any challenges people might be facing, model appropriate behaviors in various social settings and generally have a nice time while sharing pizza and treats. During one of these meetups, I was accompanied by my wife, Linda, who was not as familiar with the members of this group. As we arrived, Linda realized she had to make an important telephone call.  Catherine, the lead therapist, said, “Don’t forget to dial 9 first “to get out.” Catherine left the area but this comment was overheard by Maria, one of the participants in the social group.

This went on for a few minutes with no clear resolution in sight when Catherine returned and said that the meeting was beginning and that Maria needed to join the group. End of a perplexing conversation! This scenario exemplifies how confusing words can be to individuals who may be highly focused and take a literal, black and white, interpretation of what’s being communicated. Neurotypicals tend to be flexible and abstract in how they use words, taking for granted that the person to whom they are talking understands the intended meaning.

What further brings meaning to a dialog is understanding the particular context in which it is said. Understanding the context—getting the bigger picture— can often be challenging for those on the spectrum. Communication between neurotypicals and autistics can head into unintended and unpredictable directions, especially when what is said is in the grey realm, where several definitions are possible.

 An example of a grey area happened recently within our ShoeboxTasks® workshop. We discovered that the dowels for Task 18, Bead Stack 1-5, were no longer the right size. This was because the Shoebox bases had been shortened some time ago and it did not occur to us that the dowels would also need to be reduced proportionably. The task was designed so that each bead, when stacked on their respective dowels numbered 1-5, would stack to the very end of the dowel, leaving no excess room for another bead. Instead of ending smoothly at the top of the dowel, the extra length of each dowel presented a “grey area” for the student to interpret. Since there was now room for another bead to be stacked, the task was no longer self-correcting, but requiring a teacher to correct, or make things clearer to the student.

The task is designed to visually relate the abstract number symbol to the concrete amount of beads on each dowel. The length of the dowel should come to the top surface of each group of beads. The teacher can reinforce the relationship by indicating that the dowel ends at this level by placing a hand on the very top dowel. This visually reinforces the relationship of the symbol to the amount of beads and creates a greater possibility that the student will understand what the abstract symbol means in relation to concrete objects.

If you currently have task 18 and the dowels are too long for each numbered amount you can either cut them to size yourself or contact us and we will send you the correct sizes.

To this day, I find these grey areas cropping up in the most unexpected ways. The challenge then becomes to re-word or visually restructure our intended communication so that a clear understanding is reached. This way, life can be far less confusing for all of us as we move forward on to the next challenge.

Ron and Linda Larsen, Centering on Children

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