6.28.2008

The Human Camera

One of the very most funnest parts about having a child with autism is having people ask about that child's special gifts. Jennyalice and I both think our boys are really good at eating, but that's probably not what people want to hear. I think they're hoping our children will amaze them the way Stephen Wiltshire amazes me:



And by the way, we do think Leelo and Jake are amazing, and not just because they could each win an adaptive pie-eating contest.

video link from my mom and Jo Spanglemonkey, among others.

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4 comments:

  1. "not just because they could each win an adaptive pie-eating contest"

    BWAHAHAHA!

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  2. Anonymous2:56 PM

    WOW. I'm amazed by Steven's memory AND his artistic talents. It's great to hear his speech at the end too.


    Thanks for sharing this and for pointing out that most people with autism are not sauvants like Steven.
    jg

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  3. Jake and Leelo currently would kick ass at adaptive pie eating contest; can you imagine what will they do when they are Steven's age, whose talents didn't really manifest until he was older?
    Amanda Braggs, didn't start typing until she was in the teens; Temple Grandin became an animal behaviorist because she was obsessed with her squeeze machine during her high school senior year ....

    it seems to me that the autistic mind blooms late. And often, it is highly specialized. As Temple Grandin noted in her book "Animals in Translation", just because society standards or the inherit limitation of the neuro typical brain, are unable to recognize talents, doesn't mean that these talents don't exist.

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  4. The whole stimulus/noise thing is amazing: some people have fabulous attentive skills to specific topics; alas, sometimes hyperfocus can get in the way of other types of focus (like making eye contact with a person to communicate with *him* rather than with all the much-cooler things in the environment.)

    Interestingly, while age can sometimes bring "clarity" and the ability to selectively attend, others find it more challenging. John Robison wrote about how his ability to figure out things in an "Aspie" way decreased as he aged such that he could not now do some of the amazing things that he could as a young adult.

    In the end, it is all about balance. Or so I think... ;-)

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Respectful disagreement encouraged.