A Mind of My Own
Posted by Gail | Filed under Autism
Chapter 4: A Matter of Routine (Part 2)
Steve from “Blue’s Clues” taught Malcolm to draw. He watched religiously, knew much of the dialogue by heart and studied every line Steve drew in his “Handy Dandy Notebook.” I still have a perfectly rendered rocking chair framed.
Once fired up, Malcolm drew and painted with a fury. We went through hundreds of packages of paper and thousands of markers. But, as with language, Malcolm doesn’t draw individual components that come together to form a picture. Every piece in his drawing is a part of the whole. So when he drew a schoolbus, it included a stop sign with the word “stop,” as well as “Laidlaw,” the name of the bus company. And the lugs on the front wheels were different from the lugs on the back wheels. I went and checked to see if this was a creative flourish or an accurate rendering. I shouldn’t have bothered. He drew exactly what he saw.
Malcolm could write upside down, sideways, and back-to-front. When he was in a store and saw the name of the store on the window from the inside (where it appeared backwards) he would come home and draw it exactly as he’d seen it. And he could knock off the Disney symbol animated at the beginning of videos even though it was a pretty complicated signature. While in his chess phase, he played every day on the computer, owned five or six chess sets, read books on chess and beat us all – except for Kris, his adult brother, who whooped him. Malcolm was furious and cried in frustration, because “playing together” is another area of weakness, as are losing, sharing, and taking turns. While in his dinosaur phase he learned everything he could about dinosaurs, and even wrote a speech about dinosaurs on which he pulled an A, his first in language. He also got a standing ovation from his Grade 5 class when he delivered his speech.
When Malcolm took up with Shakespeare, my husband and I watched in amazement as he absorbed The Bard. It started in grade 4 when his teacher introduced the class to Macbeth. Malcolm got the bug. I, who always encouraged him to read, went out and bought all the Shakespeare in the series they had used at school: simpler in language but still in rhyming couplets, with lots of quotes from the original. He read ‘em all. Then he started comparing the plays. Did you know that the name “Antonio” appears in four separate Shakespearian plays? How about those younger brothers who will do anything to steal the power of their elder siblings, how many of them are there? At age 11, Malcolm knew and was morally outraged at their greed.
He began to commit great gobs of Shakespeare to memory, finally checking what he knew against the original stories (we had an enormous compendium of Shakespeare) to make sure he had it right. And then there was the day he informed his father that Shakespeare was derivative of Egyptian mythology: that Osiris’s brother, Seth, had murdered Osiris to claim his power. Hmmm.
While some Asperger’s interests last a lifetime, others change at unpredictable times. And while other children have a broad spectrum of interests, for an Asperger’s child there are only one or two at work at a time. Interests would fall off the list (leaving me with an inventory of rewards) only to be replaced by something completely different. And once done with a subject area, trying to get Malcolm to revisit it was virtually impossible.
The guitars now sit unused. He hasn’t touched a piano in years. The drum set went away. Pokemon took over from Thomas. Shakespeare will re-appear as he moves through high school (I hope). He still plays chess and has memorized thousands of moves so I never again have a hope of winning. But I still play with him and he still relishes thrashing me. Angry Birds took the place of board games. One day, when I was admonishing him for the amount of time he spent on his iphone playing Angry Birds he look at me with his wry 16-year old smile and said, “It’s physics.” Did I mention he has a very good sense of humour? Not everyone gets it, but it’s there.
May 25, 2012 at 8:18 am
I look forward to your Friday blogs.
May 25, 2012 at 8:53 am
Me too. I look forward to reading a new chapter every week. Thanks again, Gail, for sharing such a personal part of your life with us.
May 25, 2012 at 8:54 am
I’m enjoying getting to know your son. And now I know why my son likes Angry Birds. It’s physics.
May 25, 2012 at 9:08 am
I also look forward to reading the chapters each Friday. I’m falling in love with Malcolm – what a treasure he is!
May 25, 2012 at 9:35 am
Does Malcolm still draw or has he left that by the side as well?
May 25, 2012 at 9:55 am
I have a 17 year old aspie daughter and a similar story to your Malcolm. Her interests changes through the years as well. As a three year old she could name all the planets. She went throuh a dolphin phase, Little House on the Prairie and chess too. I remember when she was 9 a friend of her Dads was visiting, he played chess online seriously and thought it would be fun to help her practice ( she was in a chess club ) It was hilarious to watch him go from wow she is good to oh my god she might win to her beating the pants off him three times in a row. Chess ended when she went to a chess compitition and it was so crowded and loud that she begged me to take her home. The teen years are pretty hard for her, she is in grade 11. She is always evolving and it is my pleasure to watch her grow and mature. I do worry about her future but as any teen she has it all figured out. Apprentice as a tatoo artist…….
May 25, 2012 at 11:27 am
I love reading these excerpts. I have a two year old and these posts remind me to enjoy the ride and not overanalyse what he does or does not do. Keep them coming.
May 25, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I love reading about Malcolm too. Thank you Gail.
May 26, 2012 at 12:36 pm
I look forward to reading your blog about Malcolm each week. He sounds like a joy and I appreciate gaining more insight into your world as his parent. Thank you.
May 26, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Thank you for writing about Malcolm. Too often, children with ASD are hidden away. Thank you so much for sharing.
May 26, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Gail, I quite enjoy reading about the journey of you and Malcolm. It is extremely informative and insightful! Please continue….
May 26, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Gail, I quite enjoy reading about the journey of you and Malcolm. It is extremely informative and insightful! Please continue…..thanks!
May 27, 2012 at 11:38 pm
The timing of these blogs has been incredible. My husband (and I) coaches soccer for 8 – 9 year olds. One of the children has Asperger. Gail, your blogs have been wonderful to give an insight into this child’s mind. I have picked up on little things in part because of the blogs that have helped me give this child direction in learning the game. It’s the first year for us coaching and the first year for this young person to play. Thanks for sharing your experience!
May 28, 2012 at 8:42 am
These posts have been very interesting reads. Makes me wonder if some of the children I cared for during summer daycamps back in the late 70’s and early 80’s were undiagnosed Asperger or Autistic children. I am seeing so many similarities. Thanks for sharing !
May 29, 2012 at 2:25 pm
These posts are so interesting – thanks so much for sharing!