Mad Skills

We're operating under the pretext that you will be forgiven a world of weirdness, as long as you can bring mad skills to the table in some way.  We're not big fans of making Liam appear "indistinguishable from his peers."  Not gonna happen.  And why should it?  Every adult on the spectrum who writes about the topic makes it clear what an emotional and physical toll is taken every day, when they have to "pass."  My son is naturally happy and relaxed and we want to help him stay that way.

Much of what we do is try to figure out just what Liam needs to be able to do to live in the world and contribute to his own welfare.  But the biggest question is, what passions drive my son to develop unique abilities - what are his mad skills?

I got to see a mad-skills test play out they other day, after choir.  The teacher always leaves a little time at the end of class for the kids to play on the organ for a few minutes, since they all want to give it a go.  Liam had just gotten up for his turn, when a few kids from the next class started to filter into the room.

One boy walked over to the organ and noticed Liam's ever-present, Oobie-eye rings.

"Does he ALWAYS wear those?" he asked, screwing up his nose a little.

Before I could answer, Liam launched into the Jurassic Park theme and the look on the little boy's face instantly snapped from judgmental to astonished.

"He's REALLY GOOD!"

Yes.  Yes he is.

All anyone really needs is a point of contact and otherness gives way to a growing understanding.  At least that's the theory.  Early results are promising.