Re: [tlug] [OT] Raising a geek (was: Interesting Hans Reiser article in Wired)

[Shawn <javajunkie@example.com>]

 Pietro Zuco wrote:

> Nowadays there are so many layers that make hard for a child understand 
> what's going on. I learn what was a register and that was good. Today 
> they learn what is an icon or a button...

yeah good point. Very good point.

>  So I feel that educational systems are getting 
> bad every day. Less content, many automatic tools, and so forth..

Could be.  But there is more information in the world too.


Edward wrote:

>  This is why having friends who support you and having some
>environments were people respect you is important.

I agree.  We searched Tokyo and found a public school that is relatively
open.  I substituted as an English teacher there for a couple days to
spy on the place and was encouraged by the way the "normal" kids were
positive and expected to be positive to the kids who were obviously
different and couldn't speak or could barely do so. 


Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:


>That's why I resonated so strongly with Josh's comment about "it's a
>game you must play", because it focuses on interacting with others
>whose goals are different from, and often conflict with, yours.

I completely agree.  Numerous consultants have pointed out my son's lack
of "Theory of Mind" which refers to understanding of people as mental
beings who have beliefs, desires, emotions and intentions and whose
actions and interactions can be interpreted and explained by taking
account of those mental states.

I highly recommend "Why Language Matters for Theory of Mind" for people
interested in the topic.  Some linguistic researchers conducted some
longitudinal studies to figure out what it was that enable some people
on the autism-aspergers spectrum to pass "theory of mind" type tests.
Also, additional research about normally developing children, deaf kids,
etc. is covered as well.

What they found was that for kids on the spectrum, there was one
grammatical structure (sentential compliment for example 'Steve thinks
that Gnome is best' or 'Steve thinks that Gnome sucks') that predicted
whether or not they could pass "theory of mind" tests.  Familiarity with
this type of structure, the reasoning goes, enables people who otherwise
have trouble with the concept of false beliefs to understand them. 

It's really interesting because the implication would be that exposing a
child to this type of sentence in many different contexts could help
their "theory of mind" develop.  Yet if you pay a consultant 12,000
yen/hour to work with your child who has aspergers, the consultant will
advise against modeling this type of language as they don't want the
child to "sound like" they have theory of mind when in actuality
(according to the consultant anyway) the child needs to go through the
consultant's step by step training. 

In any case, the work seems to point out that kids on the spectrum may
be able to (to some degree) deductively understand mental states that
normally developing kids get intuitively.

I do know that the consultant in question has a child who passed through
the "theory of mind" training and still has much trouble applying it in
real like, and I don't wonder whether the artificiality of their
methodology will limit their results.  In any case, some people on the
spectrum to develop theory of mind (though perhaps not perfectly) and I
think it is useful to examine how they do so naturally.  Now that I know
that, I want to put the process on steroids and paint a picture for my
son of the world using structures that will carry information in a way
he can understand to help him broaden his understanding.

At the current time, I don't think he is being bullied at all.  He does
not understand the intentions of his peers which does make him come off
as being distinctly different. 

He might understand that there is a figurative game to be played, but at
this point the rules are so hard for him that he prefers to avoid it.
Perhaps the difference in his life will be whether or not he comes to
realize that playing it is truly in his advantage.


Shawn