Untapped Resources

On one of the blogs I follow, I read about how a family has discovered that their son can read- at 3. I was amazed and happy for them. I can definitely empathize with the uncertainty of never knowing what your child will accomplish and then being blindsided in a great way.

Little Bug often does this to us. In a previous post, I posted a picture of anatomically correct sharks he drew- at 2. They had gills and claspers- all in the right spots. All correct. I look at his puzzle skills. He can do jig saw puzzles now. Not the kind where you match the picture of the dog to the picture of the dog. But a 12 piece jigsaw puzzle or a 24 piece bear puzzles- without any visual cues. Who knew?

I remember my protests when they did his cognitive evaluation. My concern was how do measure the abilities of someone who is limited in speech? I firmly believe that the ability to speak doesn’t demonstrate your intelligence and that a lack of speech doesn’t demonstrate a disability. We have to do better than that. I look at what that family discovered about their son and what we learn about Little Bug and know for a fact that there are so many untapped resources there. We simply have to find a way to reach them.

On a totally different front, empathy has arrived- even if for a brief moment- to Little Bug. This is huge, as many children with ASD have difficulty with feelings and understanding that what you know and what someone else may know can be separate- separate thoughts, emotions, etc. Nick and I have had horrible colds this week and I stayed home from work yesterday. Nick went to work and left me and Little Bug sloth like on the couch- where we stayed.

I started coughing and then rubbed my chest. Little Bug looked at me and signed DADDY OWIE and then did his head tilt to indicate a question. I signed and said DADDY SICK and then pointed to my chest and signed and said HURTS. He rubbed my chest and then signed SORRY DADDY.

I was so excited for him. For the first time, he got that someone else had feelings and that they affected him.