How literal interpretation leads to meltdowns 

The boys have all played outside in the snow but we haven’t had enough snow to do things like make a snowman or snow fort in a really long time.

The meltdowns occurred because Emmett was so afraid that if he listed something that he couldn’t prove he actually enjoyed doing while he was actually standing in snow, he’d get in trouble.

He wouldn’t write that he liked to build a snowman, make snow angels or go sledding because while he’s done most of those things before, he doesn’t remember doing it and didn’t want to lie.

I even made a special trip to the school to meet with his teacher, so we could figure out how best to proceed.

She explained to Emmett and I that he could simply write about things he loved to do in the winter or the snow and he could even type it.  All she really wanted was for him to piece a few sentences together into a simple paragraph.

Even after that, it took a great deal of work to help him through his literally interpretation of what he was supposed to do.

Earlier this week, we did finally get there and he ended up doing a great job. The whole thing took him roughly ten minutes and that was it. We went through all that shit for something that took him ten minutes in the end.

These things pop up all the time because of the way Emmett’s interprets everything so literally. It’s really tough on Lizze and I but it’s got to be even worse for Emmett.

There really isn’t anything that I know of to make things like this easier. We continue to help him learn to better navigate these things when they come up. This is one of those things that are hard wired into him and it’s going to take time and a whole lot of patience..

Do any of you have kids who tend to do the same thing when it comes to interpreting things? Does it present problems? How does your child react and what have you done to help them?

Please leave your comments below…  ☺

Rob Gorski

Full time, work from home single Dad to my 3 amazing boys. Oh...and creator fo this blog. :-)
0 0 votes
Article Rating

Join The Conversation

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments