One of the problems that people with autism spectrum or Asperger's commonly have, is that they can be very concrete and struggle with metaphor. They tend to take things literally and not to understand allegory, allusion or simile.
We were explaining this to the parents of a boy with Asperger's and how this makes completing high school English difficult, as a high level of interpretation and understanding is usually required. These children may have done well early on, with more concrete comprehension tasks especially those requiring good memory, but the interpretation part often takes them by surprise. Some will say things like "but the answer to the question wasn't in the book!"
Today, we were saying to these parents that Asperger's boys often have trouble reading between the lines. With a panic-stricken expression he said "What do you mean reading between the lines? There isn't anything there!"
Which is, of course, the point.
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