Puzzles and Check lists

  So, what do you do with a kid who has trouble staying on task for 90% of everyday tasks (tooth brushing, getting dressed, dishes, etc) yet can spend hours working these amazing 300 to 1500 piece puzzles? You take photos of course, and when many of those puzzles are worked with no picture, you write a blog about it.

 Too often as parents of any special needs child, we are too busy dealing with doctors, schools, therapy, special diets, (and the list goes on) that sometimes we forget to look at the small details. Details is what this project is all about.

 In 2003, I noticed my Autistic son putting a puzzle together with the pieces turned upside down. I remember thinking, "that's cool!' I have this kid who cannot tie his own shoe and yet, constructs a rather large puzzle in a matter of hours by only looking at the shapes. It would drive me nuts and to spend hours working on a jigsaw puzzle, I would end up having to be locked away!

 Garion's everyday life is filled with check-lists detailing common tasks. The list seen in these photos detail his morning routine. Get up at this time, eat at this time, brush teeth, get dressed, bus arrives here, everything spelled out. Yet, as often as he's practiced each task, he still manages to forget one or two items, like deodorant or his school ID.

 As a parent we wonder how much of his forgetfulness is Autism and how much is being a kid. Often times it's hard to tell one from another.

As I sat and watched Garion slowly work his fingers over each puzzle piece, looking through the stack to find the one shape (out of 100's) , I cannot help but realize that within his world, what he's doing is normal to him.

Garion has a beautiful mind, fully focused within a world we struggle to understand. Through the countless doctors, therapists, school advisors, and everyday life, his unique traits are often lost in the shuffle.

Sometimes it's cool to leave our world for a bit and enter his to understand how he thinks and to hopefully see a bit of the personality often trapped within the world of Autism.