Blogger Widgets Ender-Chan's Thoughts: This is NOT Temperament!

Monday, February 22, 2016

This is NOT Temperament!

(This is a full-on diatribe directed at a certain someone who has officially infuriated me. In this post, I abandon my usual composure and rant about a certain popular Asperger's blogger's "temperament system." You have been warned.)

I'm linking to the original using a rel=nofollow attribute because this information is blatantly erroneous and potentially harmful. (Date of Access: February 21, 2016) Quoted text from the article is in blue.


There are nine different types of temperaments in Aspergers kids:

  • Distractible temperament predisposes the youngster to pay more attention to his or her surroundings than to the teacher.
  • High intensity level temperament moves the youngster to yell, scream, or hit hard when feeling threatened.
  • Hyperactive temperament predisposes the youngster to respond with fine- or gross-motor activity.
  • Initial withdrawal temperament is found when kids get clingy, shy, and unresponsive in new situations and around unfamiliar people.
  • Irregular temperament moves the youngster to escape the source of stress by needing to eat, drink, sleep, or use the bathroom at irregular times when he or she does not really have the need.
  • Low sensory threshold temperament is evident when the youngster complains about tight clothes and people staring and refuses to be touched by others.
  • Negative mood temperament is found when kids appear lethargic, sad, and lack the energy to perform a task.
  • Negative persistent temperament is seen when the youngster seems stuck in his or her whining and complaining.
  • Poor adaptability temperament shows itself when kids resist, shut down, and become passive-aggressive when asked to change activities.

I can see how you tried to understand Asperger's and temperament. However, most of these "temperaments" are descriptions of behavioral problems and not actual temperaments. Temperaments include strengths as well as weaknesses, assets as well as inhibitors. Certain temperament types do lead to certain behavioral problems, but temperaments in and of themselves are not behavioral problems.  Neither are behavioral problems temperaments.

I don't know how you came to nine specific "temperaments". I know that the enneagram has nine types within its system, but this hodgepodge of behavioral problems does not even begin to resemble enneagram types, even with a ton of stretching and twisting of these descriptions. This leads me to think that you did not study what the enneagram is or any system, for that matter. The rest of the post also gives off this strong "Asperger's is extreme Si" vibe. Why bother creating a "temperament system" when you don't even bother with the fact that people exist in a variety of temperaments?

The descriptions themselves look like they have been Google translated from another language. If someone originally wrote these in another language, you should have the basic human decency to credit the person who wrote it in the original language and mention that the text was translated from another language. I saw no such credit to any original author. If this is the case, you just stole someone's intellectual property without at least crediting them. If that is not the case, then this is just plain incoherence. This is a prominent website, so I expected better quality work than this. Please have the decency to name your work what it actually is. "Nine Types of Asperger's-Related Traits and Behaviors" would NOT have caused me ANY issue.

You have a degree. Please AT THE BARE MINIMUM take the time to look up information about other temperament theories before coming up with your own. The "low sensory threshold" thing is not a temperament. It is a neurological issue and, quite frankly, the only item on your list that is not a behavioral problem or merely a temperamental trait. People of a variety of temperaments can be intense, but for different reasons. For someone with an M.A. that you so publicly display, I am flabbergasted at the blatant misuse of the word "temperament" throughout your constructed system (and I am NOT at ALL selective about temperament systems). I know that everyone makes mistakes, but this is just a display of willful ignorance.

It is frustrating for me to maintain what little composure I have after reading this. A bit of research (as in: reading ONE article at the top of a web search) on the thing you were reporting on (and I use the terms "research" and "reporting" VERY loosely) would have prevented this atrocity of a "temperament theory" from coming into fruition. This is even worse than Keirsey's ADD hoax (and THAT was terrible).

Not only have you created this atrocity of a temperament theory, but you misuse the word meltdown as well. Meltdowns are not manipulative behaviors like tantrums, yet you cited "to get attention, get someone to listen, protest not getting their way, get out of doing something they do not want to do, punish a teacher for going away, for power, for revenge, fear of abandonment, etc" as meltdown causes. This shows that you do not know what meltdowns are and have, again, failed to do the simplest of research, which can simply to ask autistic people and those who know them for their input on meltdowns. The difference between a meltdown and a tantrum is basic common sense for anyone who knows remotely about autism. For being an "expert", you wrote one of the most willfully ignorant articles I have seen on the Internet. What I have drawn from your article is the following: (basically TL;DR)


  • Condescending attitude towards aspie students (continual use of "youngster")
  • Lack of knowledge of temperament
  • Not knowing what meltdowns are
  • Overall lack of research
  • Possible intellectual property theft 
  • Asperger's temperamental stereotypes despite the fact that you attempted to make a temperament theory
  • Overall, the only information I derived from this article was that you do not know what temperament theory is. I received no helpful information, just sheer lack of research. In conclusion, if you want people to use your resources, do your research! Again, I use the term "research" VERY loosely, so your research can be as simple as a quick glance at any kind of temperament website like Fighunter or 16personalities or actually getting to know the people you are reporting on. The education methods you mentioned also do not work for every single student. Not everyone operates well in the same strictly-controlled, sensory-sterile environment, something you should know very well as someone reporting on education. However, since you did not bother to take into account the aspies that need an open-ended approach, such as myself, that just speaks to your lack of professionalism in this article. Not everyone will trust you just because you have a degree that you likely display for the sake of looking credible. Some people actually read your work, so write accordingly!

    Sincerely,
    A Repulsed Choleric-Sanguine ESTP Aspie

    Additional Note: I don't know about the overall credibility of the website itself, but this article is definitely on the lower end of things. Correct me if I am wrong, but this site appears to be intended to appeal to desperate parents stuck in cognitive function loops. Other material on the site might be okay, but don't use this site as your predominant source for Asperger's information.


    The HTML went haywire, which explains the weirdly-colored text.

    14 comments:

    1. It's really annoying when the HTML glitches like that, it happened to me the other day when I was typing a paper

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      Replies
      1. Yeah and in my Girls Who Code club we are making websites using HTML and it gets really annoying when there's a bug.

        Delete
    2. Hello FlutistPride:

      A great failure in research methods and design. An obvious appeal to despair.

      The site we will not name seemed to me fairly similar to a Family Education website that had these three stereotypes/approaches to life/worldviews and subtypes within:

      Logic Person
      Emotion Person
      Rule Person

      [I chose not to repeat the condescension and scare the search algorithms
      con - descens - ion: the act or attitude of looking down
      The Latinate syllabary is a challenge].

      [which temperaments come from which approach? I think the last three apply to Rule Person; the middle three to Emotion Person and the top three to Logic Person. This cuts a general swathe].

      I believe the book was from [Alan] Sohn and [Cathy] Grayson [Parenting your Asperger Child] and it was written in the late 2000s [2005: I first encountered in in 2009-10].

      * * *

      Loops and repulsion don't go well together. When an emotion pushes and pulls a cognition!

      Looked at the nine subtypes the website had given.

      What a poor mesh with temperament - it would appear.

      These are reactions - responses.

      Thank you for the referral/recommendation of FIGHUNTER.

      And the point about the "low sensory threshold". If it is anything like migraine or seizure threshold - then it is a medical/physiological matter. And it is quant and qual.

      Intensity and reasons. This is overlooked somewhat in the popular literature [like YOUR SPIRITED CHILD].

      The Bogdans are good books for Christian temperamental/theosophical outlooks.

      "Asperger Associated Traits and Behaviours: nine types" would be the way I would head it.

      Si = introverted sensing?

      The material I would see quite frequently on other people's Facebook pages as notes and as links from 2009 to the near present.

      [People like thautcast and Karla Fisher - who would not support/endorse at all. Screenshots - screenshots!].

      Rel=nofollow is brilliant. Hooray for Girls Who Code! I more usually see DoNotFollow and purposeful diverters.

      @Meredith: for bugs - do you use Development Space with F12 [if you are using Windows]? When you're checking with your browser...Word is more tricky especially versions 2007-2013 [though Webpage view might work]. One thing about MSWord is that the HTML is bloated. And here I was thinking MSOffice was transferable!

      And, yes, it is annoying when you know people are reading your work and relying on it - and the willful ignorance!

      The last three bullets show an obvious lack of intellectual integrity - the first three a lack of respect for the audience. Both are to be deplored.

      What is the difference between mood and persistence when we take away the negative? [This is algebra and truth table work - my Khan Academy performance is very inconsistent in that area].

      Logic, people, logic!

      Ah, this is a thing that could spur to do better and be better.

      Irregular "temperament" - is this not a mismatch between the internal and the external?

      Some of this would sound like Adler's style of life to the unwary personality student.

      Looking forward to the Desk Flip. [I was one of the ones who voted ESTP: the S/N dichotomy - with me both are very close to one another - ambi-ish].

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. If Alder had done ANY research, this atrocity of an article would have been avoided entirely! It seriously eludes me how someone who runs a professional website would overlook such a simple part of even the most basic of journalism.

        Irregular "temperament" IS the result of an external-internal disconnect. It is especially frustrating for Se doms to experience this disconnect.

        Si is introverted sensing.

        Overall, the original article made me want to punch a wall, flip a desk, and scream incoherently all within five seconds. A writer with the slightest bit of professionalism would not have made me want to do this. How Alder's blog became so popular baffles me. Fighunter is a treasure trove of temperament stuff. It is one of my favorite temperament websites.

        Reasons do tend to be overlooked. All four temperaments can be rules-oriented, but a choleric is more "My policies" while a melancholic is more "The policies". The sanguine is "What policies?" (in all senses of the question) and the phlegmatic is "Your policies".

        The lack of respect for the people this writer reported on as well as a lack of intellectual integrity makes me

        People should steer clear of this website at all costs. It is a pseudopsychology repository that happens to be popular because it is made to appeal to desperate parents (and I don't mean parents in general). I've haven't even bothered to check out the rest of the website, but, if this atrocity was made public, I seriously doubt that anything they say is credible.

        Delete
      2. FlutistPride:

        Adler is not the author of the blog/website/conglomerate!

        I mean Alfred Adler, the individual psychology guru whose life dates were 1870-1937.

        He talked a lot about roles and sociological material within a psychoanalytic framework. One of the first humanistic orientations.

        I wish the gentleman had done his research - and one thing. "Adler" means Eagle in German - and is also a reference to the football team of that country.

        Let's make sure we're kicking the same ball on the same pitch. It seems with the last 5 paragraphs of your reply - we were.

        "Makes me" ... what? Is the blank an effect? A wall of blankness? A veil? Another metaphor?

        Glad you used "repository" correctly.

        Desperate parents /=/ not parents in general. I think the site might be more referred to than discovered. No, not a lot that these people / this group would say is credible. What is credible comes from other people. I noticed a lot of Lorna Wing/Tony Attwood school of thinking.

        "Policies" - what a great summary for the four temperaments. Very empirical!

        Of course I would be all "whatwhatwhat" like a chicken. And "oh look" and "just a minute". There was a person in my acquaintance who would verbalise their emotions as thoughts - like I would tend to do in an unfamiliar, abstract, challenging situation. I tend to actively question what I read - and what I write.

        I think I get it now about Se doms.

        If an Alder grew like that it would be a sick tree and a sick leadership - unpruned and defiled.

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      3. Ah! I forgot to add the word "frustrated" at the end. Thank you for pointing out the real author.

        Delete
      4. Sometimes frustration can be a blank or a blink!

        The real author ... this is a problematic one.

        The promoter [we will call them] is one Mark Hutten [so spelt with an E where I would expect the O].

        Discretion not the better part of valour in this instance...

        In the last three years one WrongPlaneteer [lostinholland] and one person from AspiesCentral [Jesse] complained about MH and his 2012 book LAUNCHING. It costs some US$19.

        The WrongPlanet search form is not easy, like a lot of PHPbbs and similar formats.

        Still here we are:

        lostinholland "Mark Hutten; Launching Children with Asperger's" 6 August 2012 - date accessed 23/24 February 2016
        Yellow Sneaker Media: WrongPlanet.net

        http://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=205926&postdays=15&postorder=asc&start=0

        Jesse - member of AspiesCentral
        "How do you rate the work of Matt Hutton [sic]?"
        30 March 2013 - date accessed 23/24 February 2016
        Whipp Media LLCD: AspiesCentral

        https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/how-do-you-rate-the-work-of-mark-hutton.3665/

        Both forum threads talk about the way Hutten has treated his valued and valuable customers.

        Respect!

        Delete
      5. So it's not just me who has a MAJOR problem with Hutten? And it's not limited to one article?

        Delete
    3. An update:

      There is a very famous 1978 study from Chess and Thomas which talks about nine temperamental characteristics of toddlers in particular. It's usually for 15-35 month olds.

      http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/temperament_and_your_child/temp2/

      It might be the McDevitt and Carey study as well.

      Also there is a study of temperamental traits for teenagers.

      If we did not know this [the previous studies from 35+ years] and only saw that [My Aspergers Child]...

      In ASPERGER'S CHILDREN: PSYCHODYNAMICS; AETIOLOGY; DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT Robin Holloway describes Dan and Matt who are both nine years old. Peter and Joe are actually the nine-year-olds - Dan and Matt are mentioned as their mothers fill in the temperament study I mention above.

      [The Matt chapter is the third chapter; the Dan chapter is the sixth one. pages 17 and 37 they begin. The TOWARDS AN AETIOLOGY is the one that mentions temperament - it begins on page 123].

      Holloway, Robin [2015] ASPERGER'S CHILDREN. London: Karnac Books

      One wonders if "real" psychology is any better - if it has the results and processes we seek!

      The point is: these dynamics were considered to be sort of "normal" in many toddlers.

      Holloway seems to have a big sense of how different tantrums and meltdowns are.

      Highlighting this bit:

      Temperaments include strengths as well as weaknesses, assets as well as inhibitors. Certain temperament types do lead to certain behavioral problems, but temperaments in and of themselves are not behavioral problems. Neither are behavioral problems temperaments.

      ReplyDelete
    4. I'm having trouble seeing your post this week! The background seems to be taking over!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Remove the ?m=1 tag on the end of the URL and you should be fine.

        Delete

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