You + I = We...Or Is It Me?

For those of you who may not know, my son C.J. (Christopher Jr.) is 7 years old and has Autism.  After many years of intense therapy and even sending him to one of the top ten schools in the country for autistic kids, with God's help, I am now homeschooling my little man.  Some people may think it's crazy, but I say it's an answer to a prayer.

During the past couple of weeks,  I have been trying to teach him to understand the concept of you, I and we.  This became more difficult then I thought!!  (caution: this may get confusing. I'll try not to confuse myself again too)

So, my goal is to ask him," CJ, what are YOU doing?" in which his correct response should be "I am standing up."  But to a concrete mind where things are black and white, his response is (you asked me what YOU is doing), "YOU is standing up!"  Makes sense right?......oy.

"Okaaaaay CJ, what am I doing?" and of course he says (you asked me what "I" is doing), "I am standing up!"

After correcting his responses MANY times with emphasis, I knew this was going to take a while and my head was starting to spin.  So, we have been ending our sessions with a "We" party. (and no, I don't mean Wii).  Because "we" never changes!!  I like "we".  "CJ, what are WE doing?" and he says (drum roll please), "WE are standing up!" YAY!!!!

It's amazing how some concepts like this come naturally to "typical" people.  But, for someone trying to make sense of the world,  it doesn't make sense.  Why do you and I pull a switcharoo?  Why is phone not spelled with an f?  Why is (ship)ment done on land and (car)go done by sea?  Only one can wonder.

So...how are YOU today?

Hold On....I'm Processing

Yesterday I discovered the overwhelming process of processing for my son.  Lately, I have been showing him single pictures (e.g. a boy riding a bicycle, a woman eating a sandwich etc.) and I ask him to tell me about the picture using his words in a sentence.  What I found was that it took him a good minute for him to process the picture!  He saw everything INDIVIDUALLY and somehow had to put all of the information together.  Then, IN PROPER ENGLISH somehow give me a sentence.  What an exhausting process!

For me, I can look at the picture and process everything within seconds.  "The boy is riding a bicycle!" My processing time is instant (most of the time, if I've had my coffee). For CJ...he sees, the bicycle.  Then the boy, then the red t-shirt, then the green grass,(in which one of those may provoke a funny memory, then I lose him for a sec) then the blue sky, and oh wait what am I suppose to do again?  Oh yeah..a sentence.  He then flips through his categories and says, "The boy...she..(no) he is sitting.....(no), riding on the bicycle on the grass."  Whew!

Great job CJ!  Okay...next picture!