I was reading through many great autism blogs today. I have asked one blogger to allow me to link to her blog so that I can share her insight with all of you. While I am waiting for her response, I would like to share this comment I posted on a blog. The post was concerning "splinter skills". This refers to abilities that some autistic people possess similar to the character in the movie Rainman. For example, his ability to count cards during a card game, to accurately guess the number of toothpicks in a pile and to compute complex math equations. When I took Little One to the pediatirc neurologist, this is who she compared my Little One to. (Great?!?) Although his intelligence and his ability to easiy retain certain information may be astonishing, his similarities to the movie's character are worrisome.
My son is 4 and is diagnosed with PDD-Nos. Most people think he does some really amazing things, but he still has a significant speech delay. The fact that I can write in normal handwriting the names of his favorite movies and he can read the titles is amazing. He can read first sight words, write his alphabet, etc., etc., but he can't communicate like a "normal" child. Do these quirky abilities help him? Not really. It worries me. His ability to retain knowledge, but not be able to communicate it to everyone (except us) doesn't bother him today. What is going to happen when the limitations that his condition brings meets his intelligence and frustrates it? Will he want to communicate to the world his knowledge and will he be able to compensate and find alternate routes or will he take a detour back into a world inhabited only by him? These are the things that I ponder, that worry us and that I pray about ...
Please, feel free to comment. I would like to know how you feel about this...
autism
parenting
6 comments:
I found you through a comment you posted on The Reign of Ellen, and I wanted to tell you that I understand. My son (who will be 13 in a month) has High-Functioning Autism. He has made great strides through multiple interventions, but I still worry about him. For us, it's sort of a two steps forward/one step back process. I try to celebrate the successes and take the challenges as a learning opportunity. Hang in there - the good truly does outweigh the bad.
Wow. My son is the same way. He is also hyperlexic (reading early), but he cannot put sentences together on his own for the life of him. He is starting with a few words (in our house "Milk please" is a great accomplishment!)
I mean he is getting better because we are doing ASL with him, and he will sign and speak, but he still isn't where he needs to be.
I def think I would rather him be able to comunicate with us better than having him read. I can teach him that as he gets older...
It is difficult, but everyone has their obtacles to overcome... Our little ones just have bigger ones a little bit earlier...
So whomever's blog it is, I like it...
-mel
I'm the Mom of a child with High-Functioning Autism and the splinter skills can be used in a postive manner. A skillful teacher can use them to raise the childs self esteem and to make him feel special. There are so many things that are hard for these kids that when one thing is easy for them it's nice.
The pediatric neurologist who compared your son to Rainman should do her homework. :) The "real" Rainman (Kim Peek) who was an inspiration for the movie has savant abilities but is not autistic. The only reason I mention this is when people find out that my son is autistic, they often ask if he has any special abilities. I usually respond that he has x-ray vision and can leap tall buildings in a single bound. When they reply "no, seriously." I respond that he's a really wonderful kid! I’d rather people see my son as a person rather than an ‘oddity’ for having unusual splinter skills.
I do think splinter skills can help children with autism. They give my son a way to bring order to his world and cope with the chaos. It’s probably no accident that many autistic kids have superior mathematical skills. In many ways this helps his communication by providing something to turn to when he’s frustrated.
As for communicating his intelligence – that is a more difficult question. For the longest time, we thought our son was mentally challenged. He wasn’t able to take the traditional IQ tests. Now that he’s 7, we know different. Yet, the school doesn’t recognize him as gifted because he’s in a special education program. They cannot comprehend the term ‘twice exceptional.’ Will this frustrate him as he gets older? I think it will, but I’m guessing the same would happen if he wasn’t autistic. Throughout history, the brightest minds have been shunned because people just don’t “get” them. The good news is that many find their own ways of communicating. Hopefully society is becoming more knowledgeable and accepting of this? We’ve come a long way since Asperger and Kanner. How much further will we go by the time our children are adults?
(btw: you have an awesome blog and are asking some great, thought-provoking questions. Keep on blogging!)
I think that you and he will find a way, having watched and realised that my sons past 2.5 years have seen him develop from a boy of 3yrs who could only "errr" and umm. To a boy with almost complete and partially comprhensible sentences is truly amazing. You have to remember they have the best in the world, in that , they have mothers who love them and will fight for their rights
Hello, I am a teacher of children with autism and have a sister with autism as well. I noticed that someone stated that they would feel better if their child could communicate with them instead of being able to read.I totally understand your thought but I thought I would let you know that there is a lot of research out there that shows that using their ability to read can help them learn to communicate with you better. Look up information on text-written scripts or cue cards. They have worked wonders with my verbal reading students. They have begun to request, comment, label spontaneously and even ask questions.
Good Luck
KT
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