Last year I was at this Market Research conference and really enjoyed this presentation by Marcus Buckingham
His theory made so much sense ( plus he is yummy looking and has a lovely British accent:-) )
Anyway he says - Play from your strengths and work around your weaknesses
He belives the fixation with fixing your weakness can only protect you from failure not lead you to success.
This rings so true of our general philosophy around raising R as well.
We plan to work on finding his passion ( right now its the words , computers ) and finding ways to manage all the challenges he has with the social world.
Its so important I think for Autistic children to be encouraged to pursue the things that they are good at.
If every minute of R's day is spend in trying to do things that he doesn't easily get like ABA or langauge ( mind you these skills are really important ) and none of his time is spend on the things he loves .. what a sad life it would be for him
Like the author of "Not Even Wrong" said " thr trouble with putting a square peg in a round hole is not just that it does not fit but also that in doing so you may break the square peg
I think a day filled with ABA ... the 40 hours per week we( indeed most parents of Autisic children ) were encouraged to pursue would be for me like school days that would be filled with period after period of calculus and chemistry and no time for Biology or Literature ( my loves )
Temple Grandin and Bill Stillman both talk about how building on a child's strength like Math Music etc is critical and provides a reservoir of self esteem .. in fact a sense of self that is most therapeutic
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2 comments:
Am in absolute agreement with you. Most teachers forget and shove knowledge into their gentle brains, with no respect for their gentle souls and gentle minds. The best teachers are the ones who can motivate from the inside out. Adults should give children more credit. :-)
I love that!
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