Autism and Georges Seurat's Dot Painting

**Lionelgee** · 16th October 2023, 12:11 AM

Hello All,

It has been a while since I posted about Autism on AULRO. Yes, this is the 'General Chat' thread and I am aware that there are parents of children who are on the spectrum. So, hopefully I have some latitude to post here.

I sometimes hear from people such as teachers or parents that a child in their care or tutelage suddenly, without any warning, goes into a meltdown at the most minor event happening. One example is the situation where a parent decided to be nice to their child and instead of going directly home from school they went to McDonald's for a treat. Well, as soon as the car deviated from the turns that led to home a volcano of vitriol and thrashing limbs erupted from the back seat of the car. A meltdown had been trigger. This was such a shock to the parent - they were trying to do something nice for their child. It was totally unexplainable to them. A similar reaction occurred when another parent had cleaned up their child's bedroom while the child was at school. They came home to an 'nice and tidy' bedroom and all hell proceeded to break loose when the child opened their bedroom door.

Upon hearing these two example I gave some thought to the situations. Plus, throw in some lived experience.
The child's morning might have things not turn out for them at school. To get them through the day they commenced forming a mental image of a scene that they added to so they could keep going. The scene in their mind was added to a single dot at a time - just like the Post-Impressionist painter Georges Seurat's Pointillism style of paintings. However, instead of being a small image in the child's mind they were painting an image the size of an old Myer's shop display window by placing a single dot at time. Each rough patch in the day added further dots to the image. An image that involved their going back home to the sanctuary of their bedroom. Instead of the car taking each visualised and frequently travelled turn that led to home, the car took a detour. This was like someone walking up to the Seurat inspired Myer's window painting and throwing a sledgehammer through the window. Each painstakingly applied dot of visualising the sanctuary of home exploded into shards with the force of the hammer blow. This triggered a meltdown. The same reaction greeted the parent of the child who had formed a mental image of their entering the inner sanctum and immediately being able to place their hand on their favourite toy. Instead of this infidels had ransacked their sanctuary and made things nice and neat. Another sledge hammer through a Myer's window. Another meltdown triggered.

I recall that I picked up a car from interstate and drove it home. I probably broke the amount of hours on the road driving solo that sensible people drive. What kept me going was the scene playing in my head of driving up to the old shed. Opening the two doors and driving the car into the empty space. Yes, I did take breaks and did have rests, Yes, however, I did over do the drive. Anyway, I got home safely. I drove up to the shed. I opened the shed doors and...

my wife had parked her work car in the shed!!!!

My tiredness and the difference between my long built up dot by dot frequently reinforced mental image the size of Myer's showroom window got rained on by multiple sledgehammers. Meltdown triggered. As an adult one learns to have silent meltdowns that occur in places out of sight by others. Some time later, I calmly walked the distance between the shed and the house and very kindly asked my wife to shift the work car as our new car had arrived and it deserved the shed more than the scabby work car did.

So next time a pupil in your class or one of your young relatives - or not so young relatives 'inexplicably' goes into a meltdown - you might be just a little bit more aware of why it could have happened. The last straw was placed on a camel's already overburdened back. Enter Mount Vesuvius. It is well worth the effort to try and examine what led up to the inexplicable event - once the ashes have well and truly settled, to debrief and find the cause. So, that strategies can be put in place to avoid cyclical repeats. There also may have been a number of physical tells or tell-tale behaviours that could have indicated that a dot painting was being worked on. Strategies placed earlier in the build-up may avoid the exercise of our mate Georges art practices. Plus, especially avoid the metaphorical application of sledgehammers through shop front windows. Or simply do not go to Mc Donald's on the way home from school and resist the temptation to clean up a child's messy bedroom... 'simples'

Kind regards
Lionel

**Lionelgee** · 17th October 2023, 03:15 PM

Hello All,

There is another aspect to the Georges Seurat's style of imagery within Autism. One of the chats I had was with an Associate Professor about their daughter who had a diagnosis of Autism. The daughter had gone to the refrigerator and could not find something. There was a lot of loud calling out about where the object might be. The Prof.. could not understand it. So, I went back through my mental pool of resources and thought about how I have been in similar situations.

It has been noted by luminaries such as Dr. Temple Grandin within the Autism field that a significant amount Autistic people 'think in pictures'. So, my take on the situation that had the Prof perplexed was that their daughter had built-up a very strong mental image, that was reinforced over frequent trips to the refrigerator, of where the mayonnaise was usually kept. The mayonnaise had been moved to another shelf on the door of the fridge. However, its location did not align with the frequently reinforced dot painting that the Prof's daughter had carried around in their head.

Instead of stepping back and scanning the fridge to see where the mayonnaise might have been 'hiding' - it did not exist any more because it was not positioned where the mental image had it fixed as a location. Because it was not in that location fixed in the mental image the mayonnaise did not exist any more. What is the point of 'looking' for something when it is obviously not there.

So, frustration levels peaked and things got a bit elevated for a wee while. Did I mention how it is such fun putting something down and the cohabitant of the house likes to tidy things up and moving things to their tidy place. How this act usually occurs while one is not present in the house to notice the change of the item's location. For example, I am sure I put my car keys right here on the corner of the kitchen table.... Oh okay ... I should now check their 'tidy place' location ....SWMBO has been at it again during my brief absence from the scene ... sigh!

Kind regards
Lionel

**Lionelgee** · 17th October 2023, 06:03 PM

Hello All,

Thank you for clicking 'Likes' or 'Thanks' for some of my Autism or Wellbeing posts. I would welcome constructive feedback - especially posts about how some of the things I write about trigger your thoughts and remind you of your own interactions you have encountered during similar situations in your life.

I readily accept constructive feedback and I would greatly appreciate you sharing your anecdotes here. These may provide myself and other readers a different range of insights that we all may find useful.

So, on the proviso that it is constructive feedback or something to compliment the posts - please post a reply!

Writing to an audience of one - especially when the one person audience is me - is not much fun.

Hopefully, this post does not sound too needy.

Kind regards
Lionel

**austastar** · 17th October 2023, 08:12 PM

Hi,
I worked for a few years with a 'tidy freak'. Lovely person, so I lived with the problem. Not that it was difficult, I knew where every thing lived so finding it was easy. But being a 'I'll put that away later' type of chap it was a new experience.
By the way, 'OCD should be 'CDO', because it MUST be in alphabetic order!
Cheers

**Saitch** · 18th October 2023, 08:21 AM

Lionel, one of my nephews has an autistic, non-verbal, high spectrum, 6 year old male child.

One thing that has come to my attention and to a friend's attention is the fact that the child is very subliminally manipulative with his parents.

When my friend, who has a comparatively well adjusted, adult daughter on the spectrum, and I, gently pointed this out to the parents, they both responded by quoting their 'Medical Advice'.

This particular child is attention seeking naughty and will run in, grab something from your hands, table or whatever and then run off and secrete it somewhere.
The parents have been advised to 'Play Along' with him by pretending to chase him, in a fun way and when he does something really bad, "It's his autism!". There is no discipline as such.

Now, when I was with the little tacker, he grabbed my USB connector from me and went to run away. I quickly grabbed it off him and put it on top of the 'fridge. He immediately went into what could only be called a tantrum, which I ignored. After a few glances at me during the tanty and realising the futility, he stopped and went and played a game on his tablet.

I'm aware that it is massively hard work for the parents, day in, day out, and I admire their fortitude and do what I can, when I can, to help, but could it be that their 'Playing Along' is a form of opting out?

The kiddie's grandmother, who spends a lot of time babysitting him, concedes my point, but prefers the Status Quo (and I don't blame her.)

Should I just keep my opinions to myself?
Thanks.

**Lionelgee** · 19th October 2023, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by Saitch

Lionel, one of my nephews has an autistic, non-verbal, high spectrum, 6 year old male child.

One thing that has come to my attention and to a friend's attention is the fact that the child is very subliminally manipulative with his parents.

When my friend, who has a comparatively well adjusted, adult daughter on the spectrum, and I, gently pointed this out to the parents, they both responded by quoting their 'Medical Advice'.

This particular child is attention seeking naughty and will run in, grab something from your hands, table or whatever and then run off and secrete it somewhere.
The parents have been advised to 'Play Along' with him by pretending to chase him, in a fun way and when he does something really bad, "It's his autism!". There is no discipline as such.

Now, when I was with the little tacker, he grabbed my USB connector from me and went to run away. I quickly grabbed it off him and put it on top of the 'fridge. He immediately went into what could only be called a tantrum, which I ignored. After a few glances at me during the tanty and realising the futility, he stopped and went and played a game on his tablet.

I'm aware that it is massively hard work for the parents, day in, day out, and I admire their fortitude and do what I can, when I can, to help, but could it be that their 'Playing Along' is a form of opting out?

The kiddie's grandmother, who spends a lot of time babysitting him, concedes my point, but prefers the Status Quo (and I don't blame her.)

Should I just keep my opinions to myself?
Thanks.

Hello Saitch,

Behavioural stuff is best left to the psychologists and psychiatrists. I am trained in neither field so it is not part of my area. One of my lecturers for an organisational behaviour subject I did at uni was a psychologist. He frequently stated there are no other occupations where the people working in the field require their own profession's assistance more than in psychology. I will leave my comment at that, make of it what you will.

Kind regards
Lionel

**RANDLOVER** · 25th October 2023, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by Saitch

Lionel, one of my nephews has an autistic, non-verbal, high spectrum, 6 year old male child.

One thing that has come to my attention and to a friend's attention is the fact that the child is very subliminally manipulative with his parents.

When my friend, who has a comparatively well adjusted, adult daughter on the spectrum, and I, gently pointed this out to the parents, they both responded by quoting their 'Medical Advice'.

This particular child is attention seeking naughty and will run in, grab something from your hands, table or whatever and then run off and secrete it somewhere.
The parents have been advised to 'Play Along' with him by pretending to chase him, in a fun way and when he does something really bad, "It's his autism!". There is no discipline as such.

Now, when I was with the little tacker, he grabbed my USB connector from me and went to run away. I quickly grabbed it off him and put it on top of the 'fridge. He immediately went into what could only be called a tantrum, which I ignored. After a few glances at me during the tanty and realising the futility, he stopped and went and played a game on his tablet.

I'm aware that it is massively hard work for the parents, day in, day out, and I admire their fortitude and do what I can, when I can, to help, but could it be that their 'Playing Along' is a form of opting out?

The kiddie's grandmother, who spends a lot of time babysitting him, concedes my point, but prefers the Status Quo (and I don't blame her.)

Should I just keep my opinions to myself?
Thanks.

I don't think they are doing the child any favours as if he grabs someone's car keys, medication, etc in real life they won't think it is very funny!

**RANDLOVER** · 25th October 2023, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

........ He frequently stated there are no other occupations where the people working in the field require their own profession's assistance more than in psychology. I will leave my comment at that, make of it what you will.

Kind regards
Lionel

Agreed and from what I've seen don't let anyone tell you that mental illness is not contagious.

**Tins** · 25th October 2023, 11:04 PM

Anecdotes.... Hmm

My mind drives me mad... or should that be the other way around...?

All of my life, if presented with a column of numbers I develop a form of numeric dyslexia, and yet, in one of my very first post Army jobs I worked in the carpark under a 22 story office building with five floors for cars, and I knew the number plates of every regular car in there. Until I got my first iPhone I could remember every phone number I had ever known.

Invariably, if I put something down I will be unable to find it 60 seconds later. For this reason I possess more 10mm spanners than any man should, but I guarantee that if you were to ask me for one I wouldn't be able to lay my hands on even one.

Certain things have strange places in my mind. For example, I once owned a novel called Onionhead. I know exactly where it is on my bookshelf. It doesn't matter that I have not owned the book, the bookshelf or for that matter the house for over thirty years. One day the universe will align and the book will be there...

I have more, but that will do for now.

**vnx205** · 26th October 2023, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

Agreed and from what I've seen don't let anyone tell you that mental illness is not contagious.

I have been led to believe that it is hereditary. You catch it from your kids.

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