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Same Verses Different... Why Is This Concept Often So Difficult For The Autistic Child? As I worked with Zachary on the concept of "which ones are the same" and "which ones are different", I noticed this concept also was a difficult one to understand... especially the "different" part. I worked with him quite a while on this concept of same verses different. But, it was only as I truly came to understand issues with partiality that I came to also understand why this particular concept was difficult for Zachary to grasp. The concept of "same verses different" necessitates that something "not belong" and as such, for an autistic child who is trying to "put things together" to figure out "how they do belong together", this poses a special challenge... for, by definition, one "part" simply does not belong. This easily explains why this was such an area of frustration for Zachary. I found that helping this get past this issue was to make him understand that "same" means "equal" and that "different" means "not equal". Since he loves equations, that helped to solidify the concept of "same verses different"... they were now taught as "equal to" or "not equal to"... and that simple change made all the difference in how well he understood the concept. :o) |
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