978-1572305441

86 A MIND APART
generalize that beyond the child’s interests and preoccupations is very
difficult. This situation suggests that some children with ASD want to
talk but will not do so in most circumstances (see the story of Gavin in
Chapter 1); others cannot talk even with the right motivation and need
to rely on augmentative forms of communication such as picture boards
and voice boxes.
It also strikes me that William does not use metaphor in his conversation.
Things are not like something else; they are the thing itself.
Metaphors are a ubiquitous part of conversation and are an important
way of conveying meaning. Many of the concepts and expressions we
use have a metaphorical connotation: “Time’s a wasting!” “I feel down
today.” “As I look into the future, I see a bright tomorrow.” And so on.
The wonder of language is its limitless capacity to convey new meanings.
Paradoxically, this is accomplished with a finite number of words
and a finite way of combining them using the rules of grammar. To
create and understand metaphor is an important linguistic skill that appears
to be hard-wired in the brain. Children begin to appreciate metaphors
as young as three years of age and can understand the difference
between literal and metaphoric meaning as young as five. From an early
age, then, metaphors bring coherence to the myriad sensations experienced
by us all. It’s true that people with autism and AS may use phrases
that sound like metaphors. For example, Justin (Chapter 3) would often
use clichés, which are really “dead” metaphors: “That sound does
not turn my crank anymore,” he would say. In this context, he was using
“my crank” as a metaphor for a mood state. But it is not a metaphor
as I mean it here, because Justin did not come up with it himself to create
a new meaning; he only adopted it from common parlance to reiterate
an old message. It is no more truly metaphorical than using the literal
words to express the same thing. Another type of false metaphor
consists of made-up neologisms or words with private and idiosyncratic
meanings. These may be interpreted as metaphors by the listener but do
not function in this manner for the person with autism or AS. For example,
some children with ASD refer to family friends by the cars they
drive or by their street address. “Hello, Chevy van,” one boy said to a
family friend who had just arrived for a visit in his car, a Chevy van.
“When is 42 coming for dinner?” another boy with autism asked. In
this context, “42” happens to be the street number at which that person
lives. In a neologism, some aspect or detail associated with the person
becomes that person. The person is effaced by a detail. That detail does
not symbolize the person as in a metaphor; it is as if that person is the