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The Simple, Creative Way I Help My Son With Autism Learn

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Every day when I’d pick my son up after ABA therapy, no matter what questions I’d ask, I’d get the same answers. He would tell me who he played with, who his therapist was and what he ate. That was it for months. In other words, he could repeat the details that were the same from one day to the next, but he couldn’t recall the details that changed from day to day, such as which book the therapist read or what game they played.

My son is 4 and has ADHD and autism. Communication is certainly an area where he struggles. In the first two years of his life, his primary form of communication was sign language. After a couple of years of speech therapy and what is called “mand training” in ABA, he can now chat away.

However, although finally intelligible, most of his speech is scripting and echolalia. In other words, he is repeating what he has memorized. He still struggles with conversational and creative speech.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to draw (and I am no artist) a picture on the napkin I put in his lunchbox. The first picture I drew was a snowman. I hoped that when I picked him up, I could ask him what was on his napkin, and he could tell me.

Later that day, when I arrived at the center and he came out, I asked him, “What did Mommy draw on your napkin?”

Enthusiastically he replied, “Frosty!”

Tears filled my eyes. It had worked!

Now, each morning, I look up “how to draw (whatever I know he will get excited about)” on the computer and scribble my best rendition on his napkin.

Today I drew Wall-E, and when I picked him up, he ran up to me and said, “Mommy, you drew Wall-E!” The therapist said he proudly held that napkin all afternoon!

She also said he is now excited to open his lunchbox every day. This is pretty huge because he would often refuse to eat. He is now motivated to eat because of the drawings.

Sometimes I’ve drawn pictures of food I’ve put in his lunchbox. He struggles with restrictive eating and has a very limited diet. So as an experiment, I drew an apple on his napkin. I then put in an apple in his lunchbox. To my surprise, the therapist said he took a bite!

As I continue to learn more about autism, I realize my son can learn. I just need to be more creative in how I flip that cognitive switch inside his growing brain.

A simple drawing on a napkin is just one small way I am willing to do just that!

“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” – Ignacio Estrada

Originally published: October 15, 2019
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