merloon

Tonight I heard the last bit of an interview on Fresh Air with Temple Gradin, a woman who works with animals (she is both a livestock facilities designer and a writer).  Gradin also has autism.  The quote in the title was part of a question that Terry Gross asked about the rising hipness of “geekdom” and whether or not that makes it any easier to feel a bit more normalized, and even empowered, as a person with autism.  Gradin talked about the necessity of honing in on autistic kids’ interests and giving them ample opportunities to pursue them in both pragmatic and creative ways.  She also mentioned that schools and teachers need to develop more flexible methods of dealing with kids whose brains function differently and adjusting requirements (but not expectations) accordingly.

One of the things I’m interested in is social skills development in young children.  This overlaps with some kinds autism research, especially regarding Asperger Syndrome.  Briefly, Asperger’s involves having a hard time using/interpreting social skills combined with perseverations (obsessions with specific topics or themes).  It’s a fairly mild kind of autism and it wouldn’t surprise me if in the next decade or so, researchers conclude that Asperger’s makes up a separate spectrum.  Right after I graduated from college, I started working with a boy with Asperger’s for a few hours a week (I was relatively directionless at the time - this was a happy coincidence).   Our interactions for the first couple of months went something like this:

Him:  “You have how much of gas?”

Me: “What?”

Him: “You have how much of gas?”

Me:  “Uh, I’m not sure, maybe half a tank.”

Him:  “Let’s look at it.”

We got to know each other mostly sitting in the front seat of my car (with periodic trips to the gas tank area to unscrew/re-screw the gas cap).  Eventually he wanted to know about windshield wipers, lights, horn, alarm, etc.
“You know,” I said one afternoon as he scooted onto my lap to have a look at the gas gauge, “when I come over, the first thing we should say to each other is ‘hello;’ then you can ask me how much gas I have.”  From then on when I would arrive he’d open his front door and call, all as one word, “helloyouhavehowmuchofgas?!”