I am constantly amazed with his sense of direction, memory for locations and how he experiences things.
He has every elevator location memorized at several malls. No matter which door of the mall we enter, he will steer me to every elevator for a ride.
His sense of direction has saved us from making wrong turns.
One trip to Pittsburgh in particular comes to mind. Pittsburgh does not have a typical grid system of streets as cities in the Midwest do. It is a confusing spaghetti-like web of streets winding their way between neighbors and around the three intersecting rivers. Sandi, E and I were in Pittsburgh visiting \her college roommate (who is also E's godmother). We were leaving to go to the airport which lies just west of the city and got confused as to which way to turn to get to the turnpike. These were the days before smartphones and GPS units. (Yes, those days existed). Sandi and I were sure that we needed to go straight. Hell, I would have bet my life that the turnpike was straight ahead. E, all of 5 years old, began tapping on the window to the right. I looked to the right and decided that going straight was the right call. E tapped the window even harder.
I could see the turnpike, but there was no ramp ahead as Sandi and I thought there would be. Sandi, turning her head to face Eion, said, "I think we should turn right." Being stumped as to how to get to the turnpike, I shrugged my shoulders and turned right. Not more than a half mile down the road, sure enough was the ramp to enter the turnpike. Just how he knew that the right turn was the correct way is still a mystery to me today. It was the day I began to trust E's internal GPS. I will often ask E which way to turn and sure enough, he gets us where we need to go.
Another unique moment of discovery with E is his unusual sense about people. I already have written about Alyssa, how he chose her as his camp counselor and how her family have become a big part of our lives. E has consistently discerned with very little interaction who are individuals of good character and who are not. His accuracy rate is still 100%. He observes a person before he approaches. He knows almost immediately if they are a person he wants to interact with. There is some aspect as to how he observes or perceives things that gives him this unusual insight. The only thing I can surmise is that he is perceiving some information that individuals with typically wired brains can't see or process. Whatever this instinct or intuition is, he is not alone in this ability.
In talking with other parents of children impacted by autism, they report the same kind of intuition. Children with autism spend a lot of time with adults as part of the regime of therapies they are often prescribed. Does this time spent provide them with additional insight to the people? I don't think so because E's ability to determine a person of good character works for any person, child or adult.
The typical thought is that an individual impacted by autism is unaware or not conscious of the world around them. In my opinion E defies this stereotype. E is all too aware of the world and people around him. He notices everything. From individuals who resemble the people in his life to the minutia of a word in a sign that reminds him of a favorite video or toy.
In thinking about how E processes the world around him, I only have one theory. He memorizes everything. Analogy time: His mind is a limitless hard drive storing every aspect of his observations and experiences without any filtering. It is the filtering that separates our experiences from his. While, our brains perceive everything just as he does, we discount or filter the information we deem irrelevant.
In helping E adapt to the world around him, this was an important lesson we needed to understand. Understanding E in this manner helps Sandi and I understand that certain sounds or sights buried in the background of our perceptual experience is experienced by E in the same manner as something in the foreground. Every sound he hears and every item in his vision field is experienced in the exact same manner and intensity. In shifting how I think, I have been able to open my mind to how I experience the world. Obviously, I can't do it to the degree E can, but it helps me understand how to help E.
I may not understand why the Empire Carpet commercial sends him into hysterics (they do) or why the Geico commercials are the best (they are).
Thanks E for helping me to be more observant and to better perceive the world around me.
Thanks for reading, more to come
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