Response to Charles Coursey's commentary.

Response to Charles Coursey's commentary. IN THE YEARS since a doctor told me I had Apserger's Syndrome(AS), I have learned something about the features of this syndrome.During the same period, I discovered and began to study generalsemantics gen��er��al semantics?n. (used with a sing. verb)A discipline developed by Alfred Korzybski that proposes to improve human behavioral responses through a more critical use of words and symbols. (GS). So even before reading Mr. Coursey's commentary, Ihad suspected that AS may in some way tend to produce elements of whatin GS we call an extensional orientation. At least one well-known expert on AS, Dr. Temple Grandin Temple Grandin, (born August 29, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a professor at Colorado State University and a professional designer of humane livestock facilities. Early life and education , whoherself has a more severe autistic autistic/au��tis��tic/ (aw-tis��tik) characterized by or pertaining to autism. condition, has come to a similarconclusion. In her best-selling best��sell��eralso best seller ?n.A product, such as a book, that is among those sold in the largest numbers.best 2005 book, Animals in Translation, shecompares and contrasts the neurological/cognitive functioning of personswith AS/autism to the functioning of 'normal' people withoutthese disorders, and to the functioning of animals. Dr. Grandinconcludes that people with AS/autism lack, or avoid, the widespreadhuman tendency to abstractify, as she calls it. By abstractifying, Dr. Grandin means basing one's thinking ongeneralized verbal categories or abstractions, rather than attending to'concrete' sensory or experiential ex��pe��ri��en��tial?adj.Relating to or derived from experience.ex��peri��en data. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , whenwe abstractify, we give priority to the verbal environment rather thanthe non-verbal environment: a person who indulges in abstractifyingtries to force non-verbal experiences to fit the pre-established verbalconditions. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. her research and observations, people with AS do noteasily abstractify, while 'normal' people abstractifyconstantly. As she sees it, 'normal' people assume thateveryone can and should operate by means of this abstractificationprocess. In general semantics, we refer to this "word first"mode of thinking as the intensional (philosophy) intensional - A description of properties, e.g. intensional equality, that relate to how an object is implemented as opposed to extensional properties which concern only how its output depends on its input. (with an s) orientation, which haslimited usefulness and is the cause for much misevaluation. From my own experiences with GS and AS, I believe that practicingGS can help those of us with AS overcome at least some of the lessdesirable effects of our condition. To give one example, when I (andothers I know with AS) describe an object, event, situation, sequence ofevents, etc., I feel I must include every possible detail. I feelcompelled to do this in order to produce a completely truthful report. Idon't see how to leave observable details out of a description--Idon't regard leaving things out as permissible or even as possible. So when I learned from reading Wendell Johnson Dr. Wendell Johnson (April 16, 1906 – August 29, 1965) was an American psychologist, speech pathologist and author and was a proponent of General Semantics (or GS). Stuttering contributions and other GS authorsthat one cannot not leave things out of a description--no matter howAspergerishly-detailed one attempts to make it--this came as a wonderfuldiscovery. When I learned that different levels of detail can exist andco-exist, this enabled me to purposefully pur��pose��ful?adj.1. Having a purpose; intentional: a purposeful musician.2. Having or manifesting purpose; determined: entered the room with a purposeful look. not strive to cram everyobservable fact into a verbal description of those facts. To someextent, this has also helped me become more willing and able tocommunicate with those who do not tend to put in as much detail as I do. Had someone carefully and explicitly taught me such lessons earlierin my life, especially in my early school years (or perhaps evenearlier), I would not have had to wait until age 40 to discover whatmost 'normal' people seem to know by instinct. And as aresult, I would have led a far less difficult and far more productiveearly life. Mr. Coursey suggests that 'normal' people might considerbecoming more "Asperger-ish" by adopting desirable traits suchas transparency and honesty, by paying closer attention to thenon-verbal 'concrete' environment. I would likewise suggestthat those of us with AS should strive to learn what S.I. Hayakawacalled the "conceptual roller coaster What a bad CD-R disc is often called. See CD-R and underrun. "--the ability to moveeasily from the concrete (object level) to the abstract (verbal levels)and back again, as circumstances and purpose demand. People without ASseem to me to have this ability, to some extent, as "part of thepackage." From my experience as a person with AS and one who hasstudied it, I believe that those with AS do not easily "ride theroller-coaster" from concrete to abstract and back again. We do notrecognize, unless someone explicitly informs us and convincinglydemonstrates it, that the difference levels exist. For me, learning GS provided that demonstration and the "keyto the roller-coaster" that I must ride in order to live in a worldof people born with the mental circuitry that makes "roller-coasterriding" easy and natural. Most people, with or without AS, would probably want, if possible,to possess the beneficial aspects of more than one human state orcondition--the "best of both worlds." I understand Korzybskireferred to this as the "coveted cov��et?v. cov��et��ed, cov��et��ing, cov��etsv.tr.1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy.2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. consciousness ofabstracting." Becoming increasingly and explicitly conscious of howone thinks, and thus becoming increasingly able to change one'spoint of view, may not only give those of us with AS the "key tothe roller coaster," it may even show those without AS how to"get off the roller coaster" when they want or need to returnto solid ground. KATE GLADSTONE* * Kate Gladstone, IGS IGS - Internet Go Server. member and Handwriting Repair Consultant,serves as Director-in-Chief for the World Handwriting Contest.www.global2000.net/handwritingrepair/WHAC/index.html