Clothes

Joel has always been caught up in clothes and particularly the value of matching. He prefers his clothes match and that his ensemble presentation be of high quality. This is in contrast to his personal appearance of his face, hair, and teeth. We do not understand the disparity in the concepts but there is no doubt that he has high standards with regard to clothing and low standards with regard to his personal hygiene and appearance.

Sometimes as much as three days away from Sunday, he will pick out his clothes and place them aside. This could include a shirt, matching tie, pants, and coat with an added sweater during the winter months. Recently he asked me if he could pick out his clothes for Sunday. I said sure but asked him what he was thinking about. He looked at me quizzically and so I altered my question:

Dad: "Joel what are you imagining that you will wear to church?"
Joel (with a perplexed face): "Clothes"
Dad: "What color of clothes?"
Joel: "Matching"
Dad: "Anything specific in mind"
Joel: "Nice clothes"
Dad: "What kind of nice clothes?"
Joel: "Church clothes"

Joel's lack of imagination is extended to virtually all activities in life, resulting in a lack of conceptual thinking and establishment of certain expectations. His approach to determining the best clothes or what to eat is broad and conceived more from experience than from specific imagined details. Rather than visually himself in particular clothes, looking a certain way, and then finding clothes to match the visualization, he instead has a general idea in his mind of what to expect, then seeks the object to meet those broad expectations.

His lack of imagination is directly related to his limited creativity. Although he is primarily a visual learning, visualization in the mind is a creative project rooted in and formed by the imagination. This is true for everyone. Using creativity we design a picture in our mind which then becomes our imagination, which leads to a concrete picture forming a concept of the item or event. If creativity is limited so goes the imagination. If the imagination is limited so goes the concept. Without a concept, we are dependent on the concrete items for the design.

Such is Joel. He has the broad sense of what he needs in his mind, but requires the use of the other senses to determine the final product. When I asked him what clothes he wanted to wear, his concept was generally correct but without specifics. He had to see the clothes before deciding what exactly to wear. His concept is formed after experiencing the concrete, not before. Because Joel's decision making abilities are based on what he knows, sees, and touches, it becomes necessary for us to remember this as we help him adjust to life.