Postcards From My Mind: Perspectives of Asperger's Syndrome

(6) Organized Search

One other area which executive functioning severely effected was my ability to perform an organized search. For example, if you are looking for a specific book at the library, say about lions, how would you find it? By title? By author? By subject matter? Would you go to the section of the library that had animals and skim around? Would you ask the librarian? All of these are viable options to search for a book on lions. What if your library was closed and you needed to go to the next town. How would you search there? Would you look at a map of the library trying to compare sections? Would you use their card catalog or computer?

When I would search for a book on lions, I would start with the first book that I saw in the library (regardless of the section it was in) and go up and down the isles looking for a book on lions. I saw signs that said “Science, Math, …” and I knew what they meant. When I wasn’t looking for anything in particular I knew to go to the science or math sections and I would find something of interest. If someone gives me the category such as “wood” I can name 10 things that belong in that category (oak, cherry, pine, …) however, if I have the information (oak, cherry, pine…) I have extreme difficulty coming up with the category it belongs in. The concept of organizing my life into categories (i.e., science, music, animals, etc.) did not occur to me. The same scenario occurred in stores. I would go up and down each aisle starting at aisle one to find what I wanted. I saw things like frozen foods, plastic wear, etc… but if I needed toilet paper I couldn’t decide where I would find it.

Reading through my old childhood psychiatric tests, one example an examiner gave is my answer to the question, “What’s similar between and apple and an orange?” My answer was, “They are both found in the same aisle in the grocery store” (Of course!) The concept that they are both fruits didn’t occur to me. My faulty categories were always based upon physical location. Information still is stored this way, but I now have the ability to re-categorize the material.

When I first moved into an apartment I organized everything on the basis of what it looked like. For example, one cabinet contained “small, roundish, white things” (that was my category label). This cabinet housed items such as salt (although salt is actually square), sugar, laundry detergent, salt for the driveway, etc…

 

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