Motor skills and social interactions!

This morning, while going to work, I heard the following story on National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120275194&ft=1&f=1001

Here is an excerpt:

The handwriting issue on its own is a major impediment for many children with autism, Bastian says. But it's also indicative of a much larger problem with motor skills, she says. Many have trouble holding a fork, buttoning a shirt, or tying their shoelaces.

And these problems with motor skills may carry over into social interactions, Bastian says.

"These are the kids that are going to get picked last for kickball," she says. "These are the kids who are clumsy, who already have difficulty relating to other kids. And the motor component probably makes things worse."

Bastian says a lack of motor skills can also make it harder to communicate through subtle gestures and facial expressions. And people who can't make these gestures and expressions themselves often have trouble understanding what they mean when other people use them. The inability to read faces and gestures is a hallmark of autism.


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So, researchers think there is this link between motor skills and social skills. That's great news... especially since Aditya has acquired quite a few motor skills during his Son Rise program.

Especially worth mentioning is the day on which, and this was within the first few weeks of his program (much before we launched this blog)... we played with Aditya for about 30 minutes during which he learned to cut!

That's right. 30 minutes is what it took this young man with a diagnosis of autism to cut through the diameter of a paper plate. Actually, 30 minutes is what it took him to pick up the pair of scissors. 2 minutes to cut the plate into two.

How did that happen? What were we doing with that plate?

We were having an animated discussion about one of his all time fascinations- the fan! As he spoke about different kinds of fans and where he has seen them (lots of them in India!) I asked him if he knew about the hand-held fan. This peaked his interest, and in a few minutes we were ready to make a hand-held fan out of a paper plate and a plastic spoon for its handle.

In her CD "Special Children, Special Solutions" Mrs Samharia Kaufman speaks about children who in their Son Rise programs, learned to do things they were never supposed to do... as if they forgot they were not supposed to know these things!

While we never really thought that Aditya would never cut through a plate, we were elated when Aditya forgot the "scientific" fact that he has motor delays and instead chose to ferociously cut through the 6 inch paper plate!

Oh... and by the way, at that time, Aditya was going to school, and in his IEP there was a goal: Aditya would cut a 4 inch line IN ONE YEAR.

Oh... and by the way, now our walls are filled with fans, wheels, cell-phones, cars, boomboxes, and lately, flowers and animals too:-)

Long live the Son Rise program, and long live the Option Institute- a place for miracles!