stimming vs studying

Here’s yet another NEW Jman art story that I discovered very late last night. First a little history: Jman has been listening to a short audio cd that reads aloud a small Usborne book that has 4 short train stories in it. I bought this book/cd set more than a year ago, showed it to him, and he had no interest in it at that time, despite the fact that it was about trains. However, he ‘discovered’ it a few weeks ago and has been all over it ever since. One might call it a stim. How many times in a day can a mom listen to “The Old Steam Train” on the cd player before she loses her mind? I think we may have a chance to find out!

But here’s the thing: It’s not exactly a stim. Why? Because he’s not just doing the same thing over and over again. He’s actually studying this book, learning it, memorizing it, and even interpreting it.

First, he spent time figuring out what pages go with the audio tracks. He actually did have to think to do this because there are NOT ‘dings’ telling you when to turn the page, not to mention the fact that he was completely unfamiliar with 'read along' books anyway. After that he began figuring out which words go along with the audio track. I think he’s still working on that, because I’ll see him back tracking and self correcting sometimes as he runs his fingers under the words. That reminds me of how I learned to read when I was little. Jman has been interested enough in this ‘association’ process the last week or two that I began to realize he’s not just stimming, but is actually studying, trying to learn from this book and put it all together. With his language delay/disorder, that’s a very valuable thing.

But here’s the recent discovery that blows me away: Jman has begun drawing suns in the sky on each page of the stories, AND those suns are PAYING ATTENTION to what is going on in the story, AND those suns have facial expressions that almost perfectly match the ‘mood’ or situation on that page of the story.

Consider these few pages from one story. Up until this point in this story, the suns have been generally happy faces, reflecting the pleasant time the characters in the story are having. However, on this first page, the sun is noticing a bit of a problem. The dog Rusty is jumping through the train window. Notice how the sun is looking in the direction of the problem, and how he has a slightly worried expression on his face. On the next page the sun is still considering the problem of the dog on the train, with a less surprised expression, but still considering the problem.

On the next page the sun has a bit of a frown, indicating there's a problem. The sun's expression is almost identical to that of the lady on the platform who's facing the reader. I love the eyes of the sun on the following page! The pupils are centered, and the sun's mouth is a straight, expressionless line. The characters in the story are trying to problem solve, and the sun has a matching expression.

Finally the train returns, with the sun happily looking down. What I found interesting here is that the sun is looking down on the people, rather than at the train. It's as if the sun knows that the emotional state of the people is more important that the object of the train. The next page has a relaxed happy sun waiting for the offloading.

After that are a few more pages with happy suns as all the people reconnect with the missing puppy dogs, but I wanted to share this very last page of the story. Not only is the sun happily looking down on the happily resolved situation, but he's also located slightly behind the fence. I really don't know much about 'art' but I just find it absolutely fascinating when Jman tucks part of a drawing off the page or behind another object, rather that having to draw the whole object for display. With the sun tucked behind the fence like this but peeking over, it feels as though the sun is interested and happy, but recognizes that he is not really part of the story. It keeps the sun separate from the real characters in the story.
When I showed these pictures to Habeeb last night, Habeeb asked if the sun was Jman, watching the story. Perhaps he is. Or perhaps it's the baby in the sun from teletubbies! But here's the thing: Whether the sun is Jman or a baby-sun or just a sun watching the story, Jman's comprehension of the action in the story AND OF THE MINDS AND EMOTIONS OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE STORY is perfect. Do you have ANY idea how NOT autistic that is????? No, I'm not saying that Jman is not autistic, because he definitely is. But I what I want you to understand is that folks who have autism CAN think and feel and understand and comprehend. They are REAL people, fully human, with the same motivations as the rest of us. They are NOT some mutant or some robot or some space alien dropped here by mistake. The thing is, they have this neurological information processing disorder that just makes it REALLY HARD for them to figure out and apply all this all the time. But Jman has clearly demonstrated with these drawings that he is thinking and feeling and interpreting and understanding. It's just that in real life the info is too much and too fast for his current neural networking to process and keep up with without some help, support, guidance, scaffolding. That's what I'm for--to help him out when it's too much, and to back off when it's not.

I was discussing this with Habeeb last night in light of a question someone asked on an autism board. The question was, "What are your current challenges with your children on the spectrum?" The answers people were giving included school, or potty training, or behaviors, or whatever--the typical answers one hears. I didn't answer, because I couldn't really think of anything. I could list some of those typical answers too, don't get me wrong. But I don't really categorize them as 'challenges' I suppose. Habeeb jokingly offered up stimming on the computer (Jman is into re-edited veggietales videos on youtube too, right now), and I suggested "The Old Steam Train" (because I've heard it SO many times).

But then we discussed whether some of these stims were really stims. In Jman's case, I'm beginning to see growth happening out of some of these apparent or so-called stims. Stims are generally defined as repetitive behaviors that are often calming to the person (like tapping your foot or drumming your fingers if you're 'normal', or flapping your hands or spinning things if you're 'autistic'). In Jman's case, it might be listening to the same track over and over and over again. But increasingly I'm seeing some of Jman's 'stims' be 'productive.' He's reviewing and studying, and getting enough time to practice, and is building new meaning and new information from his so-called stims. I just find it absolutely fascinating. Jman isn't trying to drown the world out. He's actually trying figure the world out. Gee, go figure! Why should I be surprised? He IS a person, ya know!