kitchen table math, the sequel: Andrew spells Somalia

Monday, February 12, 2007

Andrew spells Somalia






























iPhoto tells me I took these photos in 4 - 2003.

The household was in an uproar over Iraq, terrorism, 9-11....and this is what we found on our refrigerator.

Andrew, for newbies, was then age 9, completely nonverbal, not able to demonstrate whether he could or could not read, very autistic in every conceivable way. I'm sure he tests mentally retarded, but I don't want to know.

Nor did he appear to understand much of what was said to him, though at some point in there - why oh why don't I write things down? - he made the same "jump" Jimmy appeared to make when he was little: a child who hadn't been able to understand anything we said to him abruptly began to act as if he could pick out a few words here and there.

So that's Andrew. He isn't a little autistic; he's a lot autistic. He is a severely "challenged" child.

It's April 2003, the war in Iraq is on, and he's spelling out "Somalya" and "Osamey" on the refrigerator.

Also "interpol warning" on the floor, in his alphabet blocks.

8 comments:

Barry Garelick said...

He's definitely picking up important things.

Off subject, but I wish people were still picking up on Osama. He seems to have gone the way of the once-important Weapons of Mass Destruction, though I think the latter is BS and the former is downright scary.

Unknown said...

I have a nephew who's autistic, very low functioning. He can't read, but he's a math and music whiz (he can hear something and sit down and reproduce it on the piano, exactly as he heard it).

Catherine Johnson said...

Off subject, but I wish people were still picking up on Osama. He seems to have gone the way of the once-important Weapons of Mass Destruction, though I think the latter is BS and the former is downright scary.

Since you raise the topic, is he dead?

Does he seem like he's dead?

Do we think he's dead?

Catherine Johnson said...

The guy keeps seeming dead to me, and I have ZERO trust in my Bayes-meter on this.

Catherine Johnson said...

If he's NOT dead, I would like someone to find him.

Catherine Johnson said...

I have a nephew who's autistic, very low functioning. He can't read, but he's a math and music whiz (he can hear something and sit down and reproduce it on the piano, exactly as he heard it).

wow!

A genuine savant.

Maddy said...

Two of my four children are autistic and were non-verbal. We had similar 'sparks' that would leave us speechless.
Best wishes

Tracy W said...

How amazing! I wonder what's going on in his mind.