When I think about it

When I think about it , and believe me I do. A lot, probably too much . I think some one with autism does not know what it is like not to have autism, and vice versa someone without autism could not possibly know what it is like to have autism. 

That being said, leads me to no definitive conclusions , but it does help me understand why I don't always know where my son is coming from .

How his thought processes work are a mystery to me, just when I think I am getting a clearer understanding of how his mind works he goes in a different direction , which of course is his prerogative. Sadly though it is where our communication can break down, at this point I usually take a moment to try and settle the confusion in my mind , whilst understanding that the same thing might be happening to him. Since it is me that is trying to understand though, it often appears that he is in no way flustered or confused, he is just waiting for me to catch up.

Now there could be a lot going on in this dynamic; old person-young person; technophobe-tech genius, person who should get out more-person who gets out a lot, and so on.

My best guess, as to how his thought processes work, is to conjecture that he thinks like someone playing three dimensional chess ( see Star Trek ). He can park thoughts on one level, leave that subject and go to another level and carry on a conversation on a completely different subject, then return to the previous level and carry on that conversation without any break in his flow, as to how many levels ,and how many subjects, he can deal with,it is still, and will probably always, remain a mystery to me.

I grew up in a large family, often we would have meals together. Anything from 6 to 12 people would be sat around the table and many conversations would flow on many different subjects, so I have had some training in jumping from one subject to another,my son on the other hand is an only child so I can only conclude he was born with this ability,the fact that his ability to jump from subject to subject,confuses me sometimes, suggests to me,that there is some thing quite deep going on. Primarily because some of the things we are talking about ( at the same time ) are complicated , emotional , and by no means light topics.

If you know what I mean.