I often see teenage kids with strong ASD traits. They may struggle immensely with the “feeling language” and social situations. They may identify themselves as having a strong preference to use the “logical language”, and have great difficulties with understanding and using feelings. Even talking about it is very hard.
I explored with them a number of options.
1. Do nothing.
2. Embrace it, and learn more about the “feeling language”, but don’t judge ourselves on our ability to speak the “feeling language”. If we move to France, we will have to learn how to speak French, but we certainly don’t want to judge ourselves on how bad we are at French. If we want to judge, judge ourselves on the quality of our English perhaps.
3. Embrace it, and create/find an environment that would nurture our “logical language”. I often explore with them certain industries that would embrace the “logical language” as an advantage. Together, we may come up with law, technology, engineering, arm forces, police to name a few.
4. Embrace it and teach others, especially in their “tribe” about their language. Help others to understand them and not to misread them. Think about exchange students. Chances are, they will probably end up with a “feeling user” to complement them. Life is truly a team sport.
5. Consider a combination of the above.
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