I love technology. As a father of an autistic young man, I keep up as best I can with the latest developments in Autism assistance and treatments, particularly those where technology can drive better diagnosis, assistance, or any type of help. Autism is a nebulous diagnosis that may include one or more of hundreds of demonstrated behaviors. Understanding the nature and what activities or environments that enrich and enable is mostly one of trial and error. I read and research. Every now and again I come up with an off-the-wall idea of my own to try…of course they involve technology! One idea I came up with provided interesting results. Of course, there is nothing at all scientific about this. However, because I know my son, yet I feel like it imparted some insights that I found enlightening.
Together, my son and I spend a few sessions teaching him how to take pictures with my Nikon D750 (an advanced camera). I made sure that we kept each time short so to not lose his attention or to make it less fun. He loved it. Once he felt comfortable, I sent him outside—to wherever he wanted to go—to take as many pictures as he wanted and of whatever he wanted. Off he went without me or his brothers. Alone to capture whatever interested him. He came back proud and asking for me to bring them up on the computer at least 200 times (it was Christmas and there were many things to attend to). Once I had time, I reviewed and printed out the clear pictures he took (many duplicates…more to come on that). Next, I sat down with him, excited and making it fun, and asked him to describe how each made him feel and to name each picture. I did have to explain the difference between the two many times and be encouraging. Here are the results:
Firstly, I was amazed by the quality of the pictures and how well he quickly shared his feelings and titles. Secondly, I gained insight into how he thinks from a broad perspective, some beckoning further questions:
- All the pictures he took were of things he had a positive emotion towards – oh to see the world through that lens
- He took 3-5 exact pictures of each – was he unsure, wanted to make sure he took the picture, or was it for some type of emphasis?
- None of the descriptions included a possessive pronoun, only a name or literal description even though many contained subjects that normally would such as “my Christmas Tree”, “my dog”, etc. – I will address momentarily
With those observations alone, this was a great experience for both of us. He was proud of his work. I felt just a little more connected and hopefully better equipped to be a better parent to him. A couple of more detailed observations that I made:
- Why “Fire” as the title on the first picture? While it is a broad landscape of a house and yard, the street lamp is the only one on the street with natural gas lights that are fire. I saw a scene, to him it was singly about the street lamp. Does he perceive details better as part of a larger context? I would have focused in tighter on the lamp (I did make sure that he knows how to zoom in/out with the camera). Furthermore, the picture “Love / For Quinn” contains many objects. Most interestingly, it also includes our other dog, Duke. Yet to him this was specific to just Quinn.
- Revisiting the lack of possessive pronouns, he tended to use descriptors in their place. For instance, “Husky” instead of “my dog Duke” and “The House w Lights” instead of my house or home. Is this a unique gift, the ability to appreciate things for how they are now, and not the sentimentalism or reminiscing that shade our views of things.
I am thinking of ways to expand on this. Regardless of the insights—true or false—my son and I both enjoyed it. If anyone has suggestions, I graciously ask for them.
This is a positive experience and writing for me. I write it with a sense of duty and the heaviest of hearts for my dear friend Ralph. On Thanksgiving Day, his autistic angel Dante passed unexpectantly and unexplainably. I am blessed to have my son. I am confident Dante’s blessings continue from above. I am humbled, forlorn, and at the same time inspired by Ralph and his family’s resilience. I dedicate this writing of my uplifting experience with my son to Dante and Ralph…ALWAYS in my heart and mind…