It’s 88:88 At Our House
March 20, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
There was a time when I never was sure my alarm clock would go off to wake me up for work. I had a digital alarm clock and Charlie, starting when he was about six years old, loved to post himself on his knees in front of a digital clock and change the numbers. At first he just stared at the blinking red lights that turned into numbers when he pushed the buttons; eventually he figured out how to change the numbers. 0, 3, 5, and 8 were the ones he favored, and in different patterns. Charlie had learned his numbers quickly when he was 2 1/2; the alphabet letters were much more difficult, and he still identifies some incorrectly. But numbers always seemed to get his attention and he would even take the letter E’s from his alphabet puzzles and turn them around to be 3’s.
It got to the point that I unplugged the digital clocks. When Charlie was 7 and for a few years, playing with the clock numbers completely absorbed him, yet made him anxious, upset, very upset. It felt odd to do this: Of course we wanted to teach him to tell time, but it seemed impossible to drag him away from the blinking red numbers.
This past school year, Charlie has been learning to tell time on the hour and half-hour, on a digital clock. He sometimes says (for 8:30, for instance) “eight o’clock thirty”; he mostly watches the numbers when he is heating something up in the microwave and he’s counting down the seconds.
Who knows what he’d make of this beautiful times clock which only displays the times that its inventor, Yassir Ballemans, thinks are “beautiful,” according to these categories:
mirroring (22:55), repeating (7:07), up- or countdown (12:34 or 5:43) and turning around (6:09)
If it were Charlie setting the times, the times that would be displayed might be 00:00 or 88:88. As it is (probably a good thing), I just use my cell phone as an alarm clock now.
What I found most interesting was your account of Charlie getting anxious and upset by the things which absorb him the most. Calvin is the exact same way – his favorite thing seems to rotate (picture albums, cell phones, tv remotes, etc.), but the result is always the same: a little bit at a time makes him very happy; any more than that & he’ll be off-kilter the rest of the day. Sometimes he’ll get so absorbed that he’ll start waking up in the middle of the night just in the hopes of finding the tv remote!
Chris is into digital clocks and microwave timers now… Plus the CD player display in the car. He loves when the minutes or seconds turn to 00, and the change from x9 to the next two-digit number. He says something like “Here comes forty…” It’s amazing how an NT person would never have the patience to wait for a minute to pass looking at the clock, and yet that makes our kids so excited. I know the obsession with clocks and numbers can be taxing, but on the other hand I believe there’s a learning experience there as well. Sometimes we discourage him from the obsession, and redirect him to another activity, and on others we just don’t let him play with his “numbers”.
I meant we just let him play…
@Leila,
Charlie hasn’t made too much of the CD/radio displayer in our car—-I’ve wondered how well he can see it with the glare from the windows in the car.
@Chris Butterworth,
You wrote regarding Calvin and the things that absorb him most:
“a little bit at a time makes him very happy; any more than that & he’ll be off-kilter the rest of the day”
Just the same with Charlie; I try to offer some limits to how long he spends on those activities. What you say exactly describes the difficulties Charlie had with videos and DVDs of Barney and the Teletubbies—he seemed to like that so much and then we’d turn them on and he’d get extremely upset and agitated. Teaching him moderation has been a longstanding project.
“0, 3, 5, and 8 were the ones he favored”
All of them but the five are predominantly loopy, with curves…the five has a curve, but also the blocky top, so that doesn’t fit. Ack. I guess speculation is no good, but since there are favorites, patterns, it’s hard not to wonder why these in particular are of interest. The sight of certain shapes can evoke impressions, sensations, so it’s curious.
He also has always liked ovals but not circles
All 8’s, eh? I like it.
As far as clock times, I’m partial to 11:11. In fact, each November 11, I stop at 11:11 AM and PM to celebrate the minute. 11:11 on 11/11 is most beautiful of all. How many ones was that? Yes, eight.
And Charlie’s turning 11 in less than 2 months…….