Literal thinking

There are a lot of examples where my son has taken things very literally.  Just today, he went to lay down for a nap at 2:17.  He told me he was going to get up at 2:27.  Well, he fell asleep and woke up at 3:25.  He was screaming for me and when I went into the room, he was in tears about how it passed 2:27.  I tried to talk him through it, calm him down, etc.  He stopped crying, but wouldn't get out of bed.  He started crying again and I couldn't get him to calm down until I changed the clock to read 2:27.  He watched me change it and that didn't bother him.  But, he couldn't get out of bed until it said 2:27 on the clock.

Autism and Literal Thinking
Autism children, especially Asperger's take metaphorical things literally.  They don't understand things that are meant to be jokes (like go break a leg) even when explained to them.  They can't comprehend a "figure of speech" and how it relates to a situation. 

Abstract thinking is often taken for granted. There are many abstract concepts such as time, relationships, multiple representations, non-verbal communication, inferences, social interactions, and idioms.  An average person is able to understand many of these with no problem or a simple explanation, but those with Autism, Asperger's or PDD may have a difficult time understanding it, if they ever understand it at all.  If someone is going to be taught about abstract thinking, a verbal explanation is often not enough.  Physical representations or reptition is often used to help those literal thinkers how to comprehend something that is abstract.    For my son, John, time to him was what the clock said---not the actual time it was.  He was satisfied once the clock read what he wanted it to.  Often times, the passage of time has to be shown in a visual representation for it to be taught to a literal thinker.  By using a calendar to show when something is happening, they are able to understand that they must wait.