Reasoning and Deduction

How does someone with an inquisitive, scientific mind confront the question of "what has happened?" in dealing with autism? To be perfectly rational (think Dr. Brennan on "BONES") requires observation and lots of it. Matt seemed to have lost what he had known prior to the thief. He had spoken, he had eye-contact, he laughed and found joy. Now he had no words, no eye-contact, laughed at random times, hid away from others, lined up toys, shook his hands, and the list goes on and on.

I believe Matt's brain was injured - yes injured. Something, possibly a chemical (neurotransmitter) required in brain-cell (neurons) communication (synapses) was no longer produced or was produced incorrectly. The connections became weak and fell apart. New connections had to be formed, but possibly not in the normal sequence. In otherwords, his brain needed to relearn things from before, but the way in which he had learned prior to the damage was no longer an available option.

Learning had to take place differently. What does that mean to parents, family and friends (and professionals, too)? It means that WE must re-learn how WE communicate. An autistic child does not have the option to choose how to communicate, they use what they can. We are the ones with options, and therefore, we are the ones that need to learn how to communicate differently. Trying to force our learning methods on them is like trying to teach your pet French - good-luck with that.

I had to enter his world, see how things looked from his point of view. Was the grass itchy? After all, he had to ride on my shoulders when hiking through tall grass. Was the smell nasty? Most foods were not even tried - and don't try to sneak something new onto his plate! Was the darkness scary? Late at night he would venture into my room- with pillow and blanket, to camp on my bedroom floor. I would find him next to my bed each morning. Did he like chaos in his room or the smoothness of his shelves? I would put his toys away on his shelves and he would take one arm and swipe them all back off and onto the floor.

With each seemingly defiant move I would have to ask myself "why does he need it this way?". Every step forward was another new step to hurdle. It all came down to this simple quality - Matt saw the world in a completely different light. I remember him holding up a ball and turning it this way and that, looking at it from the corners of his eyes, sometimes with one eye closed, from every angle imaginable. I remember thinking to myself, "this child is going to be an artist". He saw textures, shade, shape, and gesture, whereas I simply saw a ball.

Step one in the re-teaching of Matt: Learn how he learns, see what he sees, figure out why he needs what he needs.