How would you explain this high functioning Asperger's reading comprehension problem?

Answer 1

Not to be rude, but first of all I have a hard time with the term, "high-functioning." High-functioning denotes that some people are not as high functioning as others and being a teacher and a mental health advocate, I have a hard time swallowing that. Now that being said, I really don't know a lot about aspergers itself. I've dealt with children with asperger's but the clinical side of the disorder I am not as familiar with. What I have observed is that people with asperger's do have a more difficult time than most taking different kinds of cues: social mostly from what I understand. However, if you have the disorder you could probably educate me more on that than anyone else. In terms of reading comprehension though, novels like "Ship of Fools," "Pride and Prejudice," have many different layers and many of those layers work together to make a common point. Since these are both social construct books there are many "hidden social cues" you might say and for one who is blindsided this way they are easy to miss. Also it is my experience many novels, even some textbooks rely on life experience. Unless you have gone through it, you don't necessarily get it which is true of many things. However, a lot of people not just those with asperger's have a difficult time with interpretation of what a book connotes. Like me, when I read Ship of Fools many years ago, I didn't get it at first. Later life experiences and reading it over, I feel I got mostly what the author was trying to say - though I must say I disagree with the premise. Another saying I heard from The Next Generation - Star Trek- of all places also was difficult for my 16 year old mind to comprehend. It wasn't until I faced some real life challenges that I got what Captain Picard was really trying to say. If you don't get what a book is saying to begin with, don't stress. It doesn't mean you are dumb, it just more means you lack experience and wisdom at this point in your life to comprehend its whole meaning. I know there is a lot of pressure out to come up with the shared meaning of a book's main point and to address it in writing in order to get a good grade. Try to let go of that and get from it a lesson that you can apply to your life and will change the way you think about things. There are those that can voice the meaning of a book, but have no ability to actually learn what it is saying and apply that to their life. Unfortunately those are the ones that usually get the good grades which is why I am now against the way we teach and grade literature. You can't apply a grade to what you learn from a book and how with life experience it might change your outlook.