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July 19, 2005 Dear Jeff: Over the phone you tell me that you are working as a staff psychologist and helping a boy who has autism. A certain anxiety grips the boy and makes him unable to interact with other children. The boy's efforts to share his own special interest fails. An inability to join in repartee keeps him offside. At school no one really knows him. At home the young man discovers that he likes to throw sharp objects so that they stick. Throwing sharp objects so that they stick is a skill this boy develops through daily practice. At school rather than play with the other boys he sits and visualizes his hatchet spinning through the air until its blade plunges deep into the target. The boy imagines his missile turning three revolutions in free flight before plunging deep into warm flesh. Many times each day at school the boy strikes down many an imaginary foe. The reason why is because each day at school the boy finds himself in a war zone. A certain slowness in thought and in speech keeps the autistic boy out of social activities. Daily ridicule and teasing drive him further into his own world. Despite all the negativity at school, the boy finds three younger neighborhood boys who want to learn how to stick knives, hatchets, and other sharp objects. Consequently, closer to home the boy has these eager younger associates. The children look up to this boy because of his special skill. Because of their respect and devotion, the boy keeps practicing and thereby increases his adeptness. Jeff, in 1982 an emeritus professor told me that "An autistic child simply isn't HUMAN." But the axe boy is human as much as a good talker is human. The axe boy simply excels with his axe, not with his speech. The axe is a tool the autistic boy uses to reach other boys and hold their attention, like facial expression and speech are tools most boys learn early on to do the same things. Axe play helps this boy learn to interact with non-autistic boys who like to play. Years pass and the axe boy acquires a camera. He enjoys hitting people with striking and sharp visual images. To make more creations, the young man gets people to look at his camera rather than at his face and smile, and he doesn't have to look at people and smile at them. The camera man feels very secure manipulating his camera the way he used to feel very secure manipulating his hatchet. As a grown man this person's handicaps aren't so obvious. After he has become as adept with the camera as he used to be adept with knives and hatchets, he makes his living by taking pictures and selling them as art. So Jeff. Even if your autistic boy isn't a good axe thrower, he probably has SOME comparable knack. Getting a few younger kids into his world is the way to work the cure. Make HIM a teacher. You yourself can be his first pupil. ------------ About the author: John L. Waters is an amateur psychologist and independent researcher on self-healing, integration, and problem-solving. John has created art, music and songs, prose and poetry, and helped people solve a difficult problem. For more information, read: John's letters of recommendation: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/recommendations about John's self-healing and integration: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/index.html about John's independent research: http://www.humboldt.edu/~jlw47/index.html about John's seeking an agent or a publisher: http://www.writers.net/writers/39295 Email: blueguntwo@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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