If You Can Do X, Why Can't You Do Y? My All-Purpose Answer.

[kazza224]

lishen hun the autistic mind is wired different 2 nts mind,i know of an autistic that only has 2 lishen 2 a piece of music once even if its a hard piece and he can tell u every note and play it

[kazza224]

well because we are taught what colours are put we aint taught what sounds are,at school i was taught colour but i wasnt taught what different notes were,i cant explain it,if it was taught like the alphabet or colours then we would recognise notes as easy as colour but it isnt

[shortboy]

This reminds me of how I can be a very good cameraman but I don't think of myself as a good director nor do I think I can actually be a director for someone else. My cousin is the director of our independent filmmaking group and I am his cameraman but even then I usually go on his cue. It also reminds me of when friend's ask me to help them on their projects but I become a bit hesitant since I don't have the direction or guidance of my cousin.

[fatheed66]

You know pitch because you learned it. This comparison is really pointless. Great if you're a musician. But otherwise, you might as well have the ability to accurately identify measures of liquid in a container to the nearest mililitre. Useful to a cook in a hurry, but no real application from day to day in the way that colour recognition is. Sorry!

[silentmiaow]

The comparison is there for a reason.

[fatheed66]

In the Words of John Berger: "Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak. It is seeing which estabishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it."

Describing and labelling colour is much more important and functional than sound. What survival use is pitch recognition to humans? Colour reference is crucial in understanding and relaying information...

[silentmiaow]

There's a lot more to understanding surroundings than seeing, as any blind person could tell you. And pitch recognition is enhanced in cultures with tonal languages.

(Look at other comments to see what my point was about this. It was not assuming that my claims in the video about them being the same were correct, it was just saying that my believing they are, is the same lack of logic as other people when they think one thing is necessarily there just because another thing is.)

[shortkilledlives]

i have seen some of your videos and think that if people could listen to them and think with a clear mind not one that has been influnced by culture then they will understand that some people are made different and shouldnt be hated for them but want to understand more i hope this comes across the right way you have done a great job and i think you should keep it up thank you for teaching more about autisism

[JaymaBear]

Ehh? It's hardly ludicrous... very few people have perfect pitch, but most people can reproduce a note if they hear it first.... even if they don't know the 'name' for it. Someone could still recognise the different colors, even if they don't know what they are called.

So what you are saying is that because we don't know the name of something then we can't distinguish it from something else?

[MonochromaticStains]

I don't know if it counts.

But someone tried to teach me the names of notes. I couldn't learn it because I already know notes by the colour and pattern I see them as. It's called synaesthesia. It is a different way of thinking.

I like your videos.

[darkshadyfigure]

Well considering perfect pitch is very rare (about 11% in american students of music while 30ish percent of asian student of music have it) It's very different. Colors must be taught as well as music must be taught, and as it stands the general populace is not fully instructed in music, while colors on the other hand they are. Mastering perfect pitch is a lot more complex actually, but for someone not possessing insight about music, it's an effective video.

[silentmiaow]

That's the point, my assuming that they ought to be the same, is the equivalent of someone else assuming that if I can type or sing then I can talk conversationally or something: Seems to make sense to the individual doing the assuming, but makes no sense neurologically and/or culturally as far as what skills get developed how and in what way.

[Encynic]

Thank you.

[ghostofxmaspast]

LOL Your example is stupid. Music is not taught to everybody as often as colors.

[argenfargabarg]

ghostofxmaspast: It's her example. And she chose this it carefully. Much more familiar examples come to mind. Speech is not formally taught, reading is. And we both know some people are naturally excellent speakers while their classroom peers may be stuck putting together a good sentence. This is apparent to any primary school teacher of the lower grades. With reading, everybody is taught it the same way together. Yet, variation in reading development over just two years is astounding.

[Warsie]

Answer: Specialization.

[ephod214]

this video is brillaint.

[24KZone]

It is curious how you speak so clearly and beautifully with your written words and yet remain silent verbally, but then again, silence is golden and speaking is often over rated and not always understood. I almost envy your grasp of language, but think it better to simply respect it. Be well.

[24KZone]

Brilliant

[HIGRecords]

Hey,

This is Noah from the Asperger community. I liked this video's message, of course, but think the analogy is flawed.

The reason people can identify colors more quickly is that names such as "red" and "blue" are accurate within a wide range of frequencies. I am similarly able to identify that the first note was "in the middle" the 2nd was "low" and the third was "high." If I had to identify the exact frequency of that shade of red, I would be as lost as if I tried to identify the pitches.

[LeonardodiserPier]

Wow!!! Girl you are so bright!!... you are opening my eyes in an amazing way!!!

You are brilliant in getting your point across. I really appreciate your videos.

Now I know that you understand ours ("normal" people) limitations.

I hope some day I can be nearly as kind as you are.

All the love for you!!!

[dominian42]

Pitch-identification deficiency, I love it! I have absolute pitch and I've often considered that being 'gifted' can be thought of as essentially the same as being 'not handicapped'...the only difference being whether a majority of people have the ability or not.

[shellbertie]

Your videos are incredibly insightful and helpful to those who want to understand better! Not to mention very clever. I also liked the touches of humor :-)

[carissa888888888]

I work with a little autistic boy and sometimes he can do things while other times he cant do it. This video helped me to understand. Thanks Amanda!

[carissa888888888]

I think that this video helps all human beings be less judgmental of others and of their own ability to do things. I think its important for educators to see your message and understand that thier students all learn and see the world differently. I think that the brain is wired differently however this video helps people to see that its not impossible to be good at something or great. and not so good at another thing. Brilliant. Genius. And truly gifted.

God Bless you

[kiikasi]

I can't read music :S

I'm in band class, but i don't pay enough attention.... How am i saposed to know if i have perfect pitch or not if i can't read music!! >:(

Once i learn, this should be easy if i have perfect pitch....

[ashemolee]

you completely missed the point...and if you honestly think like that, you wont have many friends when you grow up. sorry kid

[vkacademy]

That was very cleverly presented! Thank you for such a good explainations. :)

[fallingwaterbead]

thank you so much for sharing your experiences. i have some intricacies as well that are difficult to explain to the common social structure and this video gives me some wonderful ideas on sharing my experiences in a way that may help others and myself share how experience shapes the world we live in.

[DaxXOmega2005]

This video gives me such a better understanding on how others precieve things.

Thank you for posting this.

[popcornwbutter]

excellent

[53Aubergine]

You're my first subscription!

My father had perfect pitch, but was 100% rythem impaired. He couldnt carry a tune. He always said he'd have made a great piano tuner.

thanks for your videos.

Btw the volume of your tones was incredibly painful as I use headphones. (but then I hear like a dog. I can hear 3000hz at .01 db)

[carlaeblakey]

Thank you for making these videos. I feel like I've learned more this morning from watching them than I ever did in classes about "special education" when studying to be a teacher. I really hope you are involved in teacher education. Almost everything we read about autism and things like that are written by people without first-hand experience. That never struck me as odd before, but now I think it doesn't make any sense at all. I can't tell you how insightful these videos have been for me!

[cottonwhiskersuk]

(continued) However I imagine that if I were to make a CONTRIVED EFFORT to identify notes by sound, I most probably could in time. In other words: the answer to "why can you do X but not Y?" may well be "I CAN do Y, I just never realized I could!". Thank you for the inspiration.

[silentmiaow]

I didn't set out to learn to identify notes, I just did as soon as I was taught to read music. I didn't even know it was unusual until later. And pitch perception can shift slightly with age for a lot of people who do this, according to the researchers in the perfect pitch study I took part in.

[silentmiaow]

They also said that it is in fact possible to learn it, but most people who learn it past a certain age can identify notes by memorization, just not rapidly. (If you go to the UCSF absolute pitch website you can try their study, and it requires you to be able to identify them basically instantaneously so they could research particularly people who could do it without trying.)

[cottonwhiskersuk]

Being a bit of amateur musician, my pride was slightly dented when, without referring to a piano for guidance, I could not identify notes by sound. I then considered the reasons why not. Firstly, it had never occurred to me to memorize notes in such a fashion! My "mind's eye" may be incredibly vivid, but my "mind's ear" is non-existent. All the songs in my head

could fill a few gigabytes of hard drive, but one note standing alone can leave me completely flummoxed! (continues)

[silentmiaow]

Believe me, good relative pitch serves a musician better than absolute pitch does, and I only wish I had relative pitch. Lacking that is part of what holds me back as an amateur musician myself.

[Largo64]

As a child, I was able to sing any note by concentrating on middle c and (instantly) figuring that note's relationship to middle c. At 65, I can't do it anymore. But I find now that my pitch memory for specific music is enhanced. When I put on a familiar piece of music, I find I can whistle the first note or chord exactly on pitch before the recording starts. But I couldn't name that pitch.

[thechoccybiccy]

Wow! Thank you!

[chikotube]

i've only made the effort to learn pitches and identify them by their approximate frequency in Hertz. As far as colors are concerned, i have learned to closely approximate them according to their Red,Green,Blue values, and inversely by their Cyan,Magenta,Yellow values as well.

[sherryness]

Thank you so much for this and your other work on here. It helps me to understand my son who is 5 and autistic. It gives me a lot of insight on how to relate to him. It also lays to rest a lot of the worries I have about the layers of his mind and whether he will be able to be independent someday. You've given me whole new prospective, outlet and way to relate to him. Thank you! You are wonderful, fun, and have a great sense of humor as well. :)

[verhext]

your videos are totally thought-changing and amazing. thank you.

[Anjis]

Absolutely wonderful. I think I've had more insight from you than I ever have from doctors, "specialists" and the like.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, and to help open eyes (and ears) !

[veerleke]

i so subscribed to you! Love your sense of humour.

[nergregga]

thank you for making this video. I might show it to the staff where I live. I've been having trouble explaining How i can cook my own dinner, groom my cat, go to to school, dress my self ect. somedays but not other days.

[avargas2001]

Thanks for the imput, I do agree that some people are not hable to tell the diference in sounds, and I think our environment can condition many of us for a task that otherways would not be interesting and in some cases imposible, do to the time it takes to learn sometimes the rewards are not inmediate enought to keep our attention to learn things in detail.

[IAMoraes]

Your use of language and logical development of the subjects you approach are both astonishing.

Another great, great job from SilentMiaow!!!! Congrats!!

[ohveryyoung]

thanks for breaking this down for us.

[bekyfisher]

Thank you for all the effort you put into your videos. I so enjoy your priceless insights, eloquence, candor, and sense of humor...and the wonderfulness of your willingness to share.

[dinahkcm]

neat & powerful, will help a lot of people understand this better, has helped me. In the posautive group and /sense subgroup. Thank you. ps like the accent

[pixl8edkat]

i got what you were trying to say pretty early on. this was very insightful!! :) keep up these sorts of vids... thanks

[genmama1955]

Great video-- I find it applies perfectly to my neurological disorder (epilepsy) which is sometimes disabling and sometimes not. Right now it is disabling me, and I can totally relate to the part about spending a great deal of time trying to explain to people why I can't do some things. My own family included. Thanks for posting this video!

[silentmiaow]

Yeah. I'm almost completely seizure-free and get a few complex-partial seizures a year, but there was a time (on meds that lowered my threshold) when I was having atonic seizures every few seconds or minutes, and before I got my more regular kind under control it varied (mostly by stress level and how much I'd eaten and slept) how many I had and how bad they were.

[genmama1955]

I'm glad you're almost completely seizure-free! I was at the grocery the other day, and had started my transaction at the check-out when I started to have a seizure. I told the cashier I couldn't finish the transaction cos I was having a seizure and I could tell she didn't believe me. My companion had to finish it for me.

[melookingatyou]

very clarifying, thanks!

[piyarna]

Very nicely done.

[earth2k8]

Enlightening! Thanks:)

[kenrg]

Great analogy and wonderful explanation. This video is a great learning tool. Thank you.

[ralpheadsuz]

Well stated. You helped me understand. I id-ed the pitches as medium, low and annoying. I don't think that would get me very far on the test.

[30andout]

This is an excellent analogy. Subtle, but effective.

[spoiledvamp27]

Thank you for posting this video. I just love watching these and learning from you. Please, continue to post these excellent videos.

Liza

[KittyWhisperer]

Awesome!

[mixedpixel]

another very interestin one! thanks for sharing your experiences witth us.

[trungry]

Hello, As always, "If You Can Do X..." was insightful, thought provoking and interesting. I always look forward to seeing your videos. I also appreciate your sense of humor as well, and for the record - you have my all time favorite YouTube name.

[silentmiaow]

If you like the handle you should read the book, it's pretty good (if a bit dated).

[trungry]

That looks great, thanks! I had no idea it was from a book title.

[jesmalu]

thanks for this!

[patrick95350]

I just want to thank you again for what a blessing your videos are to me. My daughter has autism and, being on the spectrum myself I find it hard to see things the way other people do. I find it hard to know sometimes what her therapists are talking about. They want her to do things and I feel that I understand that she can't or that she has to do 'this' first, I try and explain it to them but the argue with me. This will help me to explain. Thank you!

[gahana108]

Excellent example, Amanada. Thanks for your profound message. (yet so simple)

Blessings,

Gahana

[ShineOnThrough]

Great video, Amanda. I read through "Extraordinary People" by Dr. Darold Treffert, a few months ago, so I think I know where you are coming from with this video. I bombed on the perfect pitch test and I've been playing guitar for 20 years. hehe

[binsk]

:) Amanda.