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So this post might not have much to do with Intuit Labs, or Intuit, or work… but the ideas related here did come in the context of my work. I recently took an Enneagram, a test that can reveal your psychological profile - or at least categorize you within 1 of 3 groups (and 1 of 3 subgroups) based on your answers to a battery of questions. A great personal coach at Metis Consulting is working with me in the area of work relationships. The concept is that the types are related, and your main body type will typically revert to another one in times of stress and a third one in times of relaxation. The three main groups are Body, Mental and Feeling. As Jack and I began to discuss the enneagram, I began to see how it applied to my son, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 2. He’s high functioning, although not as high as Asperger’s. Anyway, in observing him, and other autistic children in various groups that he’s in, and in knowning my own behavior, I realized that he is primarily a 1 - Reformer/Perfectionist. Autistic children often become highly stressed when things don’t go their way - when a rule is broken, for instance. They have a rigid way of defining the rules. I am also a 1. When a 1 is stressed, he moves to a 4 - Individualist/Internal Creation. And that’s what both my son and I do. He goes into his own world, not listening to others or interacting well, humming or playing or spinning or other self-stimulating activities. I tend to avoid contact with others, working on my own projects - usually very productive, but not social. When a 1 is relaxed, he moves to a 7 - Adventurer. That’s partly true with me: but rarely at work. Rather I move to a 6 at work: a questioner, seeking to understand issues and problems. My son is a solid 7 though, he’s fun, likes puns and idioms, likes to swing, explore the woods, try new games. It came to me that in trying to help my son when he’s at his worst: either a bad 1 or a bad 4, we usually give him “adventurous” choices: play this or that game. I’ve also advised my older daughter, who was helping a severely autistic child in a special soccer group, to engage her by just rolling the ball back and forth with her father. She was in her own world at first, but came to participate in this activity. So in my experience, the enneagram map could be very useful for helping parents, educators and service providers help their autistic children and charges. For instance, simply recognizing when your child is in a certain mindset: rigid perfectionist, for instance, that a way to help with that is to get them to be adventurous. Redirecting the self-stimulating activities into a more balanced “4″ is by helping them to be more self-aware: something that educators are taught today. If you have a view on this, I’d like to know it.

matthart

Autism and Innovation

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