I have been told over the last few years that it is wise to use your autie kid's obsessions as a teaching tool.
I nodded and smiled politely, and filed this nugget in a drawer labelled must do that some day, beside other gems like body brushing, swimming lessons and regular foot massages.
All valuable goals to work towards, but all put on a finger so long that they were barely visible on the horizon.
(I have freakishly long fingers...)
...and besides, my son didn't have obsessions (please refrain from laughing at this point, I'm being terribly serious don't you know).
A few days ago I checked to see what Bob was doing, as he was suspiciously quiet and we have two very inviting chimneys in urgent need of exploration. I was relieved (and frankly, surprised) not to find him impersonating a Victorian chimneysweep...and then rather shocked to see him playing with a box of duplo we bought him for his birthday a year and a half ago... the same box of duplo I was considering giving to one of his cousins as it was sadly gathering dust bunnies, weeping and neglected, under a table. If there was ever a need for duplo prozac it was living in our toy room. I felt obliged to remove shoes laces or any dangerous objects from it's immediate vicinity in case it tried to do anything stupid. It was tragic.
So, here was Bob actually building (the irony!), and not only building but putting a Bob figurine through a window, up a slide and under a bridge.
Feathers knocking me down etc etc.
I could barely see Bob through the feathers.
So I plonked my butt on the floor beside him and used the moment to reinforce prepositions, which Teacher had told me they were working on at school. After many "under"s, "over"s "through"s and behind"s (all thanks to his endless fascination with an animated control freak), a drawer in my mental filing cabinet slid open.
I had an A-Ha Moment.
So this was using his obsessions.
And as a sweet double whammy, he may also have saved a depressed box of duplo from flinging itself at the mercy of a Charity Shop and ending it's days in bitter, hand-wringing, abandon.
Well done Bob! Obsessions rock!
Great blog Jeanie, has given me some useful insight into obsessions, we have them here too and while they can get irratating they do have their lessons to be learned too. lol
ReplyDeleteAndra xxxx
And Jeannie is now a master of verbal behaviour!
ReplyDeleteYou have learned well grasshopper.
Tell me, Did you show him how to build a chimmney?
we had the duplo kit with the little plastic tubes you put together to throw a plastic smiley ball in. (long donated sorry) but we got great craic building indoor playcentres that smaller lego figures would slide down - and get stuck. xx
P.s that's chocolate on Bob's face, in case any of you are wondering xxx
ReplyDeleteGreatblog, fab pic too, he is working hard!
ReplyDeleteWe had the tubey duplo too (passed on to a toddler group), and we also had lego people and a few cars down the slides!
Excellent! Love the choccie face. A fave in our house.
ReplyDeletehammie and tulippy, gotta get that tubey duplo stuff...thanks for the info...it sounds great xxx
ReplyDeleteloved that jean, when our kids totally surprise us by using something that we might have passed on its such a joy like first steps all over again isn't it? keep up the writing!
ReplyDeletethanks paula. gotta say, i worry about the opportunities I HAVE missed due to not recognising them, or being preoccupied or busy. thanks for all your comments tho. we have to keep on truckin', eh? xxx
ReplyDeleteGreat post Jean! love the pictures! It's so amazing when young kids reach milestones that might seem really small to other parents, but it's a great CELEBRATION in our own community. It's not so much how they get there, or when they get there but the fact that they get there in the first place. Then we can really celebrate!! And well done to Bob too!! xxx
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