Comments on: Are scientists ‘unemotional’ or ‘on the spectrum’? Or why we love doctors who are in touch with their feelings. With help from The Piano Guys, Shirley & Co, Queen and George Michael! /2015/05/are-scientists-unemotional-or-on-the-spectrum-or-why-we-love-doctors-who-are-in-touch-with-their-feelings-with-help-from-the-piano-guys-shirley-co-queen-and-g/ Supporting children's language, communication and learning Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:33:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3 By: Michael Jones /2015/05/are-scientists-unemotional-or-on-the-spectrum-or-why-we-love-doctors-who-are-in-touch-with-their-feelings-with-help-from-the-piano-guys-shirley-co-queen-and-g/#comment-8058 Sun, 10 May 2015 07:56:42 +0000 /?p=1440#comment-8058 Hi Paul!
Good point!
Working as I do, with what we call in the UK ‘reluctant talkers’ I feel it is more a question of the children who experience difficulty with communicating away from the family developing anxiety reactions. One of these is to naturally find yourself (and I don’t think it is always a voluntary reaction) avoiding stressful communication. If we can help the adults to communicate better with the children (e.g. working hard to tune into them and get on their ‘wavelength’ then the children and teens begin to relax and then communication starts to flow.
I really enjoy your posts: always full of insight and also with practical information.
Thanks for getting in touch!
Michael

]]> By: Paul Morris /2015/05/are-scientists-unemotional-or-on-the-spectrum-or-why-we-love-doctors-who-are-in-touch-with-their-feelings-with-help-from-the-piano-guys-shirley-co-queen-and-g/#comment-8057 Sat, 09 May 2015 14:12:51 +0000 /?p=1440#comment-8057 Interesting topic! As a speech pathologist, my colleagues and I frequently have to attempt to determine disability versus disinterest. Are the child’s behaviors the result of not being able to do it, or being able to, but not wanting to do it?

]]> By: Michael Jones /2015/05/are-scientists-unemotional-or-on-the-spectrum-or-why-we-love-doctors-who-are-in-touch-with-their-feelings-with-help-from-the-piano-guys-shirley-co-queen-and-g/#comment-8056 Wed, 06 May 2015 18:55:47 +0000 /?p=1440#comment-8056 Thanks John! Unfortunately I CAN begin to imagine what that experience was like. However, you now have a story that will remain in the family for generations and will be told frequently. And you are a ‘Hero Dad’ into the bargain, who thinks nothing of driving through closed gates, just like in the films (BTW have you noticed that when they do that, the cars are never even scratched).
I prefer to use ‘out of touch with his feelings’ and ‘top heavy’ as they truly reflect what is going on: the intellectuals have developed the habit of turning their backs on feelings and in some cases look down on people who are ’emotional’. They need help with this.
I really dislike people using ‘on the spectrum’ as an insult, as it insults those who really are autistic and who struggle to make sense of emotions.
All that and The PianoGuys too!
This is a rich seam I’m writing about, so expect more posts in the same vein soon (including Robert Palmer, Eric Clapton and Florence and the machine!
Best wishes
Michael

]]> By: Michael Jones /2015/05/are-scientists-unemotional-or-on-the-spectrum-or-why-we-love-doctors-who-are-in-touch-with-their-feelings-with-help-from-the-piano-guys-shirley-co-queen-and-g/#comment-8055 Wed, 06 May 2015 18:47:51 +0000 /?p=1440#comment-8055 Thanks Kathy! It’s great to be ‘gifted and talented’ but when children are very ‘intellectual’ they may need help to keep ‘grounded’ and in touch socially and with their feelings. if we feed the brain too much, it very quickly takes over! (Not that I live in fear of that for myself!)
Best wishes
Michael

]]> By: Kathy Brodie /2015/05/are-scientists-unemotional-or-on-the-spectrum-or-why-we-love-doctors-who-are-in-touch-with-their-feelings-with-help-from-the-piano-guys-shirley-co-queen-and-g/#comment-8054 Wed, 06 May 2015 11:41:05 +0000 /?p=1440#comment-8054 A brilliant blog, thank you Michael.

Perhaps we all do this a little bit? Sometimes the unique child gets a bit lost in the maze of ‘Areas of Learning and Development’, levels and baseline assessments. It’s a great reminder that emotional intelligence in both children and adults is so important.

I love the Life Scientific programmes as well (and Clare Balding, obviously!).

]]> By: John Rice /2015/05/are-scientists-unemotional-or-on-the-spectrum-or-why-we-love-doctors-who-are-in-touch-with-their-feelings-with-help-from-the-piano-guys-shirley-co-queen-and-g/#comment-8053 Wed, 06 May 2015 09:21:54 +0000 /?p=1440#comment-8053 An interesting post, Michael. Our daughter also had a febrile convulsion. Given that she’d recently been diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening heart condition and we couldn’t find a pulse this is marked as up as a 10/10 scariest day ever. She made a full recovery and enjoys hearing about the time I placed her body across my knees and drove the car through the garden gates at 2 am in my urgency to get her to A+E.

I liked the phrase ‘intellectually top-heavy’ although I suppose this could be more positively termed as ‘clinical detachment’. I think we can be guilty of the same detachment and intellectualism in teaching. Sometimes the child’s condition can threaten to become more interesting than the child… and that’s always a concern.

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