My Autism Insights

  image by John Haslam/foxypar4 on Creative Commons

The clocks are ’springing forward’ tomorrow - brighter days ahead.  It’s a strange time right now: I hear birds signing outside, but the early mornings are still cold and uncomfortable.  All around the ground is a muddy quagmire topped with greenery.  We’re expecting temperatures near 60 today, but since there’s still snow on the ground, many of us parents are still dressing the kids in snowsuits so they don’t get soaked and chilled.  Even the geese have made a couple of cameos, but have decided against signing any contracts just yet; they’re gone again.  It’s the messy ‘in-between’ stage.

It has seemed lately that in some ways Gus has been going backwards; regressing.  In other ways, he has merely stagnated.  He’s still having difficulty with doing independent work in school.  And he’s been wandering the school halls or doing dangerous things like climbing on school furniture.  Why?

Nearly eight years of observation provides a hopeful answer - I try not to worry about these setbacks any more.  It seems that before he can jump forward, he’s got to take a few steps back.  The progress always outweighs the regressions.  I don’t know why exactly this happens. But when I look at nature, it seems that many transitions are less than pretty.  If you’ve ever seen a baby bird hatch, at first they’re all twisted, discombobulated, upside down…and quite unattractive (in a cute, my-mom-just-sat-on-my-head kind of way).

Baby Robin Hatching video by Youtube user JSitube

Gus woke up this morning (at a reasonable hour), dressed himself (in matching clothes even), went downstairs and set his Pokemon game up until everyone else got out of bed.  Clearly, he’s gaining independence.  He’s already gone through a physical growth spurt, and now his mind is following along with a developmental surge.  The regressive behaviors are already starting to fade along with the dark days.  He’s almost squelched through all the transitional muck.  I see sunnier skies in Gus’s near future.

Do you notice any regression in your child just before a developmental leap forward?

  image of Steve Wiebe from Wikimedia Commons

The King of Kong is not a movie about the autism spectrum, but I’m reviewing it here because throughout the 79 minute running time, I couldn’t help but to be overwhelmed by how many of the people in the documentary exhibited characteristics of OCD (and I really thought at least one guy had Asperger’s).  While I am in no position to say for sure that any person featured in the movie had such diagnoses, there were certainly a lot of symptoms being displayed.  The story was about the rivalry between the top two Donkey Kong players in the world (both have made the Guiness Book of World Records ) Steve Weibe and Billy Mitchell.

This was much more than just a story of video-gamers.  It became a truly epic story of a rivalry that’s gone on for years.  Mitchell originally broke the world record for Donkey Kong in 1982 and held the record until Wiebe broke it in 2003.  Last year, Mitchell reclaimed his title (in a public venue), and Wiebe as of last October became the second person to ever achieve a score over 1 million points in a public venue, but did not take the number 1 position back from Mitchell.

The most interesting thing to me about this rivalry is the level of intensity and obsession both men have with this game.  Yet, it has not impeded them from having successful lives (Mitchell owns a successful restaurant chain and Wiebe is a Science teacher in Washington).  Both have families, but if the film is to be believed, Wiebe at least has had times of putting his complete focus into his game.  His first record-breaking videotape has his son in the background screaming at him to stop playing (which he couldn’t if he was going to break the record).

On the other hand, the film depicts some apparently underhanded behavior from the Mitchell ‘camp’ in order for his record to stand.  Twin Galaxies, the organization that officiates these records, sent two people to take apart Wiebe’s game in order to verify that it wasn’t tampered with - initially against the permission of Wiebe’s wife.  I kept wondering how any of these people held jobs if they were so wrapped up in this competition.

At any rate, whether they have OCD or not, one bright spot that strikes me is that they’ve used their special skill set (and Donkey Kong is an extremely hard game to master, which I have on good authority from my game-obsessed husband) to achieved greatness within their own niche.  The movie goes from just a movie about ‘gamer geeks’ to a truly engaging underdog story.  Definitely well worth a watch.  And who knows, maybe one day Gus will win a world record for playing Pokemon.

Prompt by Mo of Manic Monday

Does allowing an individual with obsessive tendencies to enjoy the object of obsession to a limited degree add fuel to the fire of said obsession? This is what I ask myself all the time.  Let’s use Pokemon as a fairly harmless example.

Gus loves Pokemon.  He’s got encyclopedias of Pokemon memorized and can tell you anything about any of the creatures. Sometimes when he lacks focus in school, the use of Pokemon as a teaching tool has proven effective (add these numbers and find the number of Pokemon in this region).  But there’s always a downside.  Even the most contained fire, if given the right opening, can consume a forest.  He will play his Pokemon video game to the exclusion of many other things, including outdoor activity when the weather permits.

Now, am I really all that concerned about Gus and Pokemon? Not now.  But what if it goes on for the next, oh, 20 years or so?  Is there a point where someone should step in and say, “this is no longer appropriate, so stop now.” And if there is such a point, it would be great if I could get one of those postcards like you get from the dentist when it’s time for a cleaning.

Left field is looking a little too attractive today, so I’ll end here.  Have a great Monday!

And for more on obsessive tendencies, check out Bonnie’s post at Autism Family Adventures .

And later this week, I’ll have a guest post from my buddy at General Hysteria .  Stop by ad check out what she has to say!

The approach of March in the colder parts of the U.S. can bring with it some wacky behavior in all of us  because of a general ‘enough winter’ attitude coupled with a hint of spring fever.  For individuals with special needs, who are often more sensitive than the average person to seasonal shifts, it can be a particularly trying time.  Gus seems to be in dire need of strenuous physical activity, but it’s still too cold for him to want to spend much time outside.

So we went on a little adventure today.  I found a stationary bike that is the perfect size for the house AND for everyone to be able to use, for a bargain on craigslist.  We went to pick it up, taking a lovely scenic drive over a treacherous mountain pass.  We won’t discuss my paranoia - I had several escape scenarios in case we happened to stumble upon a suburban Jason.)  So now, Gus can get his large motor muscles all worked out (he’s loving all the sensory input) and he can play his Pokemon game at the same time.  It’s a win-win situation all around.

Have you gotten any particularly sweet deals on equipment for your special needs child?

P.S. Sorry for the blurry photo - he was moving and I was trying to catch him in a relatively stable position. I didn’t do so well!

prompt from Mo at Manic Monday

First an update on our tree situation:  It is still standing and well!  There’s been some sort of Christmas miracle!  Several of our keepsake ornaments have been dismembered, but a little glue has saved most of those.  Gus seems to have lost interest in redecorating the tree.  I’d attribute this to either being distracted by gifts and things under the tree, or perhaps he just finally got it just the way he wanted it.  One string of lights bit the dust, but they’re so fragile, I didn’t even give it a second thought.  So our tree drama seems to be over and so far things have been peaceful.

And now on to a tree post of a different sort.  If you’ve been following, you’ll know that Gus has a little obsession with Pokemon.  Last Christmas we gave him the Pokemon DVD board game.  I give it high points for replay value - they had me playing this morning even before breakfast.  I got to play the character Brock who starts with a Pokemon named Sudowoodo.  Sudowoodo evolves from Bonsly - a baby bonsai tree - into a small human sized, walking tree.  Why is he a rock type?  Even Gus, guru of all things Pokemon, has not been able to explain that to me.

Of course, he won the game and had to help MM and me with most of our trivia questions.  I often question the wisdom in letting him have his obsession - is it smart to encourage it?  I think, at least in this case, it probably is.  I think Pokemon has been a vehicle for his to work on social skills.  It’s one of the few board games he’ll actually play, although we do have to work on the inappropriate or insensitive things he says when someone doesn’t know an answer or when someone else is losing and upset about it (like his sister).  He’s getting the Pokemon card game this year, along with a Pokedex, and a Pokemon encyclopedia covering all 3 regions.  The boy will be in hog heaven as they say.  And if I can sneak a peek at that encyclopedia, I may just beat him at the game one of these days.