Ah yes, Gravity Works . . .

The law of gravity - what goes up, must come down. You would think that once this has been experienced a few times it would not need repeated testing. But then, you are probably not autistic.

Matt experimented with gravity quite a bit. Small items (matchbox cars and other small toys) seem to be airborne around our home several times each day when Matt was between the ages of 4-6. Don't get the wrong impression here, Matt didn't throw toys. Matt experimented with toys. Gravity seemed to be utterly fascinating to him. He built ramps or used what was available, to get up the speed for lift-off and then as fast as he could, position himself at just the right angle for viewing the flight and the inevitable crash to the ground.

He couldn't watch the flight looking straight-on. His head would turn slightly, his eyes looking off to the side with a bit of squint to them. The better the ramp, the longer the flight and the more he liked it. Everything seemed to fall in a predicted line, and Matt loved lines. These lines could not be seen readily. Oh no. You have to position yourself just right, squint just enough, to see the trajectory. What was a quick blur of toys flying off the deck to us, was an arc of colored line to him. The faster the take-off speed, the larger the arc.

No toys available? That's O.K., everything that can go up, can fall down. Even the newly cut grass was a physics experiment. Holding a clump of grass clippings high above his head, his head turned as far away as he could muster so that his eyes had to gaze from the corners, he would release the blades a few at a time and watch them fall. Grass clippings became a favorite. Grass was unique - it was light enough to be carried by the wind. It didn't fall straight down. A wisp of summer breeze and the blades seemed to float and drift in a pattern so unlike his toys that it soon became a new mystery to be solved. Strong wind - grass drifts almost parallel to the ground. No breeze - grass fell faster and almost straight to the ground. Every time we went outside, Matt had to test the unique properties of grass.

Going for a walk to the creek? Great place to test the trajectory of rocks! Throwing rocks in the water became a wonderful way to get him to want to go outside, go for a walk, get some fresh air. All the kids loved throwing rocks in the water. The other children would try to skip the stones, and of course, to see who could have the most skips. Matt didn't like picking up the rocks at first - after all, they were on the dirty, dirty, ground. So each child would find rocks for Matt to throw and we would all cheer when he threw the rocks. He loved the big rocks that made a "plunk" sound over the little rocks that made a "pink" sound. Even with rocks, he would turn his head away, look out the corners of his eye, and squint.

Did Matt ever test gravity on himself? Well, yes and no. Matt did do quite a bit of jumping off chairs, beds, counter-tops, and usually someone was there to catch him in midair. Usually. There were times when he landed and landed hard. No - he never did get hurt, at least, not that we could tell, but his pain threshold and how he dealt with pain are a whole different subject (a future blog).

As Matt grew older, and we played various family sports, we began to marvel at his accuracy with a ball. Matt still turned his head away, still looked out the corners of his eyes and squinted, but his trajectory was dead-on. Throwing a ball straight to the target, making a basket without looking (or so it appeared) were all related to his early experiments with physics. This ability flowed over to other astounding gifts - like his ability to pour a glass of milk at a speed that would make most on-lookers cringe, awaiting the inevitable overflow. Milk never spilled - not a drop. The glass would be perfectly full - right to the rim. Anyone watching would stare in awe.

So why the blog about gravity, trajectory, physics, and milk? Very simply, I wanted to show you some connections between what parents may see as quirky behaviors, and the true learning that takes place. What may seem unusual, strange, and abnormal (and I really hate that word) to us, is in actuality the learning by experience route of those brain cells I keep telling you about. The normal route was damaged, a new route is found. It may take a longer, winding path, but it finds a way. Matt learned about gravity, wind, sounds from water displacement, trajectory of an object in flight, and made emotional bounds to others (everyone wanted to watch his flight patterns, or find him rocks). What may seem trivial to the untrained observer, is actually the remarkable ability of the brain to re-learn through observation, experience, and experimentation. This is the beginning of critical thinking skills - a remarkable asset of the human mind.

So, don't write off those little quirks of behavior as nonsense. You may be witnessing something much more precious.