When Quentin was three years old he had a speech therapist who told me he always wanted the same toy, on the top shelf of her room. I asked what it was, and she said: “It’s a McDonald’s toy. You must go to McDonald’s a lot with him!” This gave me pause. Quentin had never been to a McDonald’s at that point in his life, but there was a Micky D’s located just three blocks from where we lived. Also, at that time, McDonald’s was underwriting Sesame Street, and he saw the golden arches every time he watched Elmo’s World. I suddenly felt like everything Morgan Spurlock taught me was right; my kid knew how to identify the McDonald’s logo before he could say his own name. Was fast food really that pervasive?
Turns out, it wasn’t just McDonald’s Quentin liked. He also has a thing for American Express, Apple computers, Chase Bank, Sprint, and many others. You see, what it comes down to, for Quentin – all his behaviors, desires, needs – is visual stimulation. And for him, this manifests itself in a curious form: The boy is obsessed with corporate logos.
I can’t remember when this first began. Quentin’s logo obsession could have began as he began noticing magazines laying around the house, and saw the same ads come up repeatedly for each issue. It also could have started when he first started watching TV. He quickly noticed that all channels have a visual image of their brand that appears either when we change the channel on our cable system, or else in the lower corners of the screen. (As a side note: it always bothered me that kids channels like Nick Jr. and Disney have to have their corporate logo emblazoned on the screen during shows. This not only disrupts the aesthetic look of the shows, but it interferes with the learning! How is a child supposed to say where Dora should go next if part of the map is obscured by a big old “NICK JR” logo in the way? Sorry – side rant now over.)
At this point, corporate logos are what he lives for. And it’s not until you have a kid like Quentin in your life that you realize how much they dominate our world. Walking down the sidewalk with him means bracing for the moment where he runs into the local drug store, which is awash with logos. He happily points to logos on every billboard, every bus stop, every cell phone store, and the Sunday newspaper inserts. Once, I took him for a walk to the playground four blocks away, and on the way there he insisted on touching the logo on every car that was parked on the street. By the time I got to the park with him, his hand was black with grease.
When Quentin sees a logo, he insists on hearing what it is. He sometimes murmurs something that sounds like “me, me” (which might be “tell me”) but more often, he asks, “Da!” (“what?!”) very loudly. We are working on having him replace this with “What?” and then “What is that?” but he needs constant reminders. To get an idea of what this is like, here is a video I surreptitiously shot while we were at an indoor playspace in March.
I’m not sure what all this is about, but I feel strongly that Quentin’s logo obsession gets to the heart of how important visual stimulation is for him. Has anyone else out there seen this in their children with ASD before? Please share your stories in the Comments section here!
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MFC
May 11, 2012 at 11:28 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I find it so interesting that he immediately knows how to zoom in on what is a logo rather than a random design element. I wonder if this interest could turn into some sort of artistic expression on his part. Does he ever try to draw/copy logos?
Covert Coviewer
May 11, 2012 at 11:50 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
YES! This is what is so amazing – he knows when something is a logo and when it's not! But, unfortunately, Quentin's fine motor skills are incredibly poor. He only knows how to scribble, and cannot yet form any figures that look like anything. He doesn't like to draw, either. So thoughts of him becoming some kind of graphic designer are sort of squashed… he's just a "fan".
natasha
May 23, 2012 at 12:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Melissa – That's amazing. He ignores all the other images and immediately finds the logos. They stand out to us, but I'm surprised it would be so easy for him!
alda
May 24, 2012 at 4:36 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I have worked through the years with a few children with asperger. Some months ago, I had this family with one severe autistic boy, and an asperger Dx child. I played with this boy for1.5hours a week. He also has interest for logos. He knew all the well known logos such as facebook, canal 47,CNN; he also knew numbers 1-100. Mother never taught any of these. At first, his play what all about the logos and he could color or try to take turns just to get a logo as a reward. Through the months, he switch to some kind of symbolic play. Then, he went to school and my services finished. Now, B. Is 5 and he can read as a 1st grader. His interaction with others has improved a bit too. I had other boy into trains -Q,F,R- when he felt unease in a new situation i used to give him letter Q, for Q train and he will feel “safe”.My understanding is that these children are trying to understand what is going on the world through symbols and numbers. A large percentage of our learning is via visual input.(beside auditory).In contrast, an average child relates more to the social interaction “per se”, as we are all social beings and the language that we use in the everyday is very complex-pragmatic use of language- not just labeling. At the same time a logo is a complex symbol. I think it is great that Quentin has interest for logos and in other words he has interest in relating to this society and you can implement his interest in other activities age appropriate. I can imagine what he may feel while being in a large group activity and feeling lost and if u
Show him a hallmark logo and his eyes become “alive” perhaps saying yeah
Now it has sense cards, gifts, ribbons equal hallmark.
Crystal
May 24, 2012 at 11:27 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I showed off Q's video here in my marketing department. (We are a department of writers, branding experts and designers who specialize in creating corporate identities). Everyone was *amazed* at his ability to always spot the corporate logo on the page.
When designing an ad, we always put so much effort and thought into where to place the logo so it doesn't get lost among all the other design elements … the color, the headline, the ad copy, the amount of "white space" around it, the position, the size of the logo in relation to everything else going on the page. It's both an art and a science! But to the "average" viewer of one of our ads, I'm sure it all just blurs together, and no one ever thinks about the ad's design, message or underlying corporate sponsor unless there's something meaningful in that ad for that individual.
It's amazing that Q has such an appreciation and affinity for logos and design. It's fascinating to see just how important these visual symbols are to him, like they're helping him make sense of his world.
josummers07
October 10, 2012 at 1:24 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I like logo design in Perth because I see a lot of details. I was never obsessed with a company logo like that kid but it is true that it has a big impact to our perception.