Category: writing

Autistic Kiddos Have Talents

We all have talents.  We just have to find them.

Life is relative.  What is easy for some is very difficult for others.  Math is a great example.  My two boys with autism love math.  It is very easy for them to grasp and compute.  They both took harder math classes in high school than I ever did in college.  Oh yeah, I did not take ANY math class in college because trigonometry in high school was enough for me.  I muddled through that class after endless hours of studying.  My sons breeze through those calculations without effort.  I wish I had their ability.
My boys roll their eyes at me, not understanding how I can’t grasp the simple concepts.
In contrast, I enjoy writing. It can be fun, even a welcomed challenge to me.  For my boys, writing is downright painful.  They’d rather do their Saturday chores than write.  They will even do MY chores to procrastinate that tedious task of putting words on paper.  Once they sit down to write, the dead would complain about my kids’ groans that permeate the air.  My sons equate writing to a medieval torture, and should be outlawed.  They wish they had my ability.
I roll my eyes at them, not understanding how they can’t grasp the simple concepts.
We are all gifted.  Sometimes, we spend too much time working on our weaknesses that we forget to capitalize on our strengths.  Find that talent, and let it flourish!

Writing With "Punch"

Mom’s humble cell phone

The past summer has been full of happening.  Many required constant attention, and time to write has diminished.  I will try to highlight what has happened with shorter entries.  Here’s a short one:

In keeping my boys’ writing skills up during the summer, I asked them to write a paragraph about my cell phone.  I told them to use vocabulary with punch.  Although they wrote independently, they both concluded their paragraphs, “Mom’s flip phone sucks.”  I don’t like that last word, but it does have “punch”.

I love my simple cell phone.  One charge lasts ten days.  It works on demand: I can make phone calls.  Tis a truly amazing device!  It does take photos, and I can play games and music on it.

Sometimes, “old school” is just fine!

Autism and Interviews: Mindful!

The application process was slow.  I picked up the application.  Ryan and I read through all the pages.  We found the requirements, and Ryan and I agreed what the required steps would be.  We agreed what he could do on his own, and what he might need help to accomplish.  We set deadlines.  The plan was set.

Until deadlines passed.

One of the first items we addressed was who to ask for letters of recommendation.  We needed three, and those three had to fulfill different requirements set in the application form.  We obtained the first one easily as that was a family friend.

The second was given to a teacher.  I put a post-it on it with our personal deadline–three days ahead of the application deadline.  Our lives were busy, and the initial day passed.  I asked Ryan if he received the letter of recommendation from his teacher.  Nope.  I reminded him to get it.  The next day he forgot.  I texted him the following day, and I emailed the teacher.  Ryan received it.  We had one day left.

Ryan had to write a page describing several aspects of himself.  Having autism, he wrote everything within four sentences.  Four hundred words were required.  Elaboration was needed.  Ryan knew what that meant.  His little brother sang a song when he was in second or third grade.  The words to that song:  elaboration means tell me more.  Ryan understood that.  How can he write more?  Why was it needed?  He has expressed himself concisely. He answered each question.

The first question he answered–he answered with:  I have autism.  That means I don’t like to talk with people.

Blunt.  Honest.  I wondered how that would go over to his reading audience.  Most papers probably described each applicant’s career plans and how each will conquer poverty and achieve world peace.  Not my son’s.  He just says he doesn’t want to talk with people.  Hmm.

Ryan wanted to be a writer, but he couldn’t elaborate about himself.  Oh yeah.  Lots of steps.  We worked on this like an English assignment.  We wrote out the who, why, where, when, what, and how questions.  We added prepositional phrases.  Then we wrote out clauses, and we expanded the ideas.  Talk about stretching.  Physically and mentally, it was a workout.

But we had it done, and we turned it in about two hours before the deadline.  Whew.

A few weeks later, we received a call, saying that he was a finalist.  He needed to schedule an interview.  YEA.  That brings us to his interview last Sunday.  And we await the results.

Ryan is hopeful.  So am I!

Surprises

“I don’t know.” That is usually the response to any question given Ryan. It is an easy out, and he does not have to talk much. Not many people will pursue asking more questions either.

I receive that answer every time I ask Ryan what he might want to pursue as a hobby or career. “I don’t know” rings out. Yesterday, Ryan told me that he wants to try his hand at writing. That totally surprised me. Ryan has a difficult time expressing himself, whether in conversation or in an essay. Overcoming an obstacle is never easy.
Yet, when I think about it–when I started home schooling him three years, he started writing a book. At first, I did not think much of it. However, now he has shown me 40 pages of written words, telling a story. His own creation. Now he’s back at school, and English is very difficult. He writes his book when he takes a break from homework.
I never imagined that my son with autism, whose language skills are not very strong, would want to pursue writing! Just goes to show that the potential of these autistic kids is endless.