They were looking into Montessori, but there’s a bit less of that sort of thing where they live in South Carolina now. Both of his parents are huge geeks, and they’re keeping him well-steeped in lots of wonder and adventure, no matter what the school thinks of his spontaneous D&D adventures during social studies 
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That’s too bad… what part of the state are they in? Are they far away from Columbia or Charleston?
That’s good and it’s key. But experiences in school can really grind the creative out of some kids… it’s good that his parents seem to be working hard to counteract it.
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Unfortunately I think grinding the creative out of kids is a role school plays at around age 7. Kindergarten has lots of play-based learning, but then you hit grade 1 and you are supposed to sit in desks all day. Some kids really can’t take it.
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Not having to do that was great for my daughter.
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I’ve never taken meds for anything autism related. I don’t know why I would. Medication will just cover up the surface phenomena if that, it won’t actually change anything.
I was on meds for clinical depression, but I’m not on them any more. I have my reasons. Depression is scary, but the side effects of the antidepressants are also scary.
Heh. You never can win. I have been told all my life that autism impairs creativity. I guess being too creative is somehow a problem as well? 
I can’t explain how it actually does affect creativity, even from personal experience. I guess it’s just different, but I can’t say for better or worse. I’m not creative at all in a touchy-feely human-centered way, but I am very creative when it comes to mathematical and logical problem solving. I know some people on the spectrum who are very uncreative, but I suspect that comes from environments that stunt creativity.
Aspie obsessiveness has a lot to do with that. When I latch on to something I like, it’s like being in love, only it’s with a book, idea, theory, story, fictional universe, etc. When I was younger, it was stronger, and exuberance would be one possibly understated way of phrasing it. Bubbly overflowing enveloping happiness and comfort would be another. Everything would have to tie in to what I was obsessed with in one way or another, because that obsession was where I would draw comfort. I think that’s way more of a positive thing than a negative, but it’s all a matter of channeling that energy.
You’d think that, but it could be that the school forced it on them. “Disruptive in class” is a big one. Everything they don’t understand and can’t deal with is suddenly some big disruption.
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Reading yours and others’ statements makes me wonder about my own experience. I had teachers who told my parents they thought I belonged in the gifted programs and I was called away from recess several times and given tests by strangers…which I apparently always failed.
My parents and teachers eventually decided that I just “didn’t test well”. At least part of that might have been that my usual reaction to “Come down off the monkey bars so this nice man you’ve never met can take you to an empty classroom and ask you some questions” was “Oh no, what have I done wrong?”
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We’ve always assumed that she was NT, but there are a number of areas where she’s quite odd. She’s very sensitive to different stimuli and emotionally all over the place. So intense and single-minded when she wants to learn something. Very committed to routine – bedtimes have to follow the same pattern every day. She’s quite sociable, but dominant, so it’s hard to tell if she gets the subtleties of interaction since she’s not subtle at all.
I have never had that problem – I have trouble not finding connections between seemingly unrelated things and thinking of new ideas, and instead following one idea in a logical sequence.
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I daydream a lot. Usually it’s either telling elaborate stories to myself, or analyzing a problem to death. When I was younger it was mostly storytelling, but it’s gone more and more toward analysis as I’ve gotten older. It’s not that I have a lack of attention, it’s that I have trouble switching focus over from one thing to another. I don’t not focus, and I don’t quickly gain and lose focus, but it’s more along the lines of latching on to something and not being able to let go from it. Obsessive storytelling Aspie kids have a big problem with this, and it can be a very good thing assuming it can be harnessed effectively. It shouldn’t be suppressed.
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Some of that could come down to her age? Younger kids tend to like routine in general, I think.
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Maybe the clinicians’ idea of creativity is somewhat limited and only limited to NT space? We know their idea of empathy is.
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Good point. Fear of failure is also very powerful.
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Could be; I’m just aware that girls tend to be underdiagnosed because they are often more sociable. At this point it doesn’t matter too much in any case, since she’s doing well in kindergarten and getting on with others.
Or do we? 
There’s also the problem that if you don’t learn in typical ways, your learning trajectory won’t follow the expected route.
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Enh, looking at present standings, declarations of “The Red Wings suck!” take on additional meaning, I can say that much at present.
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It’s hard to be put in buckets when the proper bucket doesn’t even exist.
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The gifted program at my school was a holistic, two–pronged approach, both mental and physical.
Outside of class, the other kids would kick the shit out of the smart ones. Inside, the teachers ripped the piss out of them.
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There is a bird called the redwing. Its scientific name is turdus iliacus.
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It’s funny because it’s fucking painful.
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Yep. I wish I was joking.
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So when it lays an egg it lays a…
Actually I should not make jokes. I have a vewy gweat bird in Wome named Turdus Iliacus.
ETA: Still shouldn’t make jokes, but I’m wondering what “Sesame Street” localized for inner-city Detroit would have named Carroll Spinney’s oversized avian character if it were a redwing.
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I don’t know if I was intuitive or creative. I do know that when my high school participated in University of Waterloo-sponsored national multiple-choice tests like the Euclid or the Cayley, I did at least once merit a Top Ten Percent Achievement Certificate (that is for the freaks among the geeks, as only the math geeks in my school participated). Simply coming up with the answer because “it sounded right” but not showing any work did not help my algebra grades.
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