OMG YES re: Brennan having an ASD...because, well, YES!
And the folks who keep talking about her "regressing"...I keep pointing out that she IS uneven. She always has been, and, imo, she ALWAYS WILL BE. And she'll try new things and practice and get better...sometimes. Sometimes things she tries (like humor) she'll have totally age-inappropriate (and when times on Show are good, Booth will find this endearing because it's HER)...in part because of the ASD and in part because a chunk of her is FROZEN in time at the initial trauma she experienced at age 15 when her family left her.
And her progress is fairly consistently limited to: a) situations she's personally experience or had explained carefully to her so she KNOWS the situation and the feelings attached and has time to PROCESS what would be needed (the mother who was burying her son alone at Christmas), b) people she has lots and lots and lots of data on and can now USE that data and her huge brain to hypothesize about (read: BOOTH), and c) things she's been directly taught (usually by Booth) how to do and say ("I'm very sorry for your loss"). This seems to me often to be the case with (c) because, before Booth, it seems like few people (if anyone) was willing to *coach* her about social norms and WHY they matter and WHY it is worth her time and effort to attempt to engage in them. It seems like he was the first one to develop CUES for her so she could know when she was stepping close to lines, could PRACTICE. Russ *got* her more than anyone, was able to translate Earth-to-Brennan and Brennan-to-Earth (as we saw him do so adeptly in "Verdict in the Story"), but he never knew how to *teach* her more in the areas where she struggles.
I love how much Booth and Brennan have taught each other and learned from each other and how it has made them both better people.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-12 05:09 am (UTC)And the folks who keep talking about her "regressing"...I keep pointing out that she IS uneven. She always has been, and, imo, she ALWAYS WILL BE. And she'll try new things and practice and get better...sometimes. Sometimes things she tries (like humor) she'll have totally age-inappropriate (and when times on Show are good, Booth will find this endearing because it's HER)...in part because of the ASD and in part because a chunk of her is FROZEN in time at the initial trauma she experienced at age 15 when her family left her.
And her progress is fairly consistently limited to:
a) situations she's personally experience or had explained carefully to her so she KNOWS the situation and the feelings attached and has time to PROCESS what would be needed (the mother who was burying her son alone at Christmas),
b) people she has lots and lots and lots of data on and can now USE that data and her huge brain to hypothesize about (read: BOOTH), and
c) things she's been directly taught (usually by Booth) how to do and say ("I'm very sorry for your loss").
This seems to me often to be the case with (c) because, before Booth, it seems like few people (if anyone) was willing to *coach* her about social norms and WHY they matter and WHY it is worth her time and effort to attempt to engage in them. It seems like he was the first one to develop CUES for her so she could know when she was stepping close to lines, could PRACTICE. Russ *got* her more than anyone, was able to translate Earth-to-Brennan and Brennan-to-Earth (as we saw him do so adeptly in "Verdict in the Story"), but he never knew how to *teach* her more in the areas where she struggles.
I love how much Booth and Brennan have taught each other and learned from each other and how it has made them both better people.