MWNews 153

I want to tell you something about William. Probably won't take as long to tell it as I think, so I will have to include other things in here. Which, of course, means complaining and whining but maybe I can avoid too much of that this time. Don't count on it.

You know I have always said William can't read and his handwriting is illegible. His sentence structure is non-existent and he rarely keeps to any sort of coherence when he is trying to write a story or something. I know, it is sad but it's true. I am told repeatedly that it is his autism and I cannot really argue the point as he does have some compulsive behaviors that cannot easily be explained. It must be something not connecting right in his mind as the behaviors are consistent and not random in how they are projected. But, as I have said and not said enough, he is a very good kid. Very loving and affectionate and thinks everyone should be that way too. To the point that it is really annoying at times but we learn to live with it.

But I have to relate something that really amazed me the other day. We know he plays video games whenever he can get someone to play with him. He plays by himself but he would rather watch a movie or a video than play by himself or without an audience. He is consistently asking everyone if they will plan a game with him. I never do. I would say I rarely do but it is actually never. I tried a few times but I just can't handle it. Another story I have probably related at some other time but I just don't like playing games with others and to play with William is a real adventure. I won't go into it too much but he does not really play the game. He just does what he wants. You can try to ignore him but he finds a way to crash into your part of the game and makes it impossible for you to play the game the way it is supposed to be played.

And before you say why don't I just play the way he does, it's because if you do that, he gets bored and stops playing. He would much rather be annoying you and whatever it is you are doing than actually play with you or even against you. Which brings up playing games against him. He is too good. I mean, I am fair at most games but he is a kid and can play anything all the time and play it very well. Or very well compared to me. I don't mind losing to him all the time but playing against him, you don't even get a chance to lose. It is over and done with before you can even begin to do anything.

There are games, like racing games, where you can beat him all the time, but it is mainly because he does his wander around thing and not really race so it is basically you racing against yourself and him trying to find what else he can do besides race. Again, we can play that way but he gets bored after a while and you either have to quit playing or he quits playing or you just sit there and wait for him while he does his thing. It's not really fun for anyone but we do try on occasion.

I said I don't like playing games with anyone, not even online games. I just never got into it and really don't want to start now. I enjoy the competition but I like doing things on my own and playing with or against others doesn't really appeal to me. I wish it did but then I might spend too much time doing that and forget all the things I need to be doing. Like teaching William to read.

Which gets us back to the subject of what William was doing the other day. Maeghan was playing a new game, or new game for us, not really a new game. It was Sherlock Holmes or something. It requires a lot of reading about what is going on and what you need to do. I was across the room doing something, I don't remember what, and I keep hearing William telling Maeghan what to do.

You know how that goes. One kid telling another what they need to do in a game. Maeghan is usually good about it, or not exactly good but she tolerates it from William, basically because there is no way to stop him from doing it. And, a lot of times. William is right in what you need to do. Most of the times he is not but he does come up with good strategies every once and a while and it gets Maeghan through some harder parts of games. Not just this game but a lot of games.

Anyway, I kept hearing him say the same things over and over again. Like he was reading them from the screen or something. I have no idea what Maeghan was doing and I was not really paying attention but then I hear him tell Maeghan to go back to some screen, then go to another screen and then to different screens. Each time, he would say something about what she needs to do and then piece it together with other screens to find out what was needed. I thought he was being really clever but then I thought how could he be doing all that just from watching.

I know, your first thought is he has played it before but we just got the game. There was no way he had ever done this before and he doesn't even like that kind of game. Too much mental work, I think. As I heard him keep doing this over and over again, William never tires of giving advice, I began to pay more attention. I kind of watched what was going on. And, to my amazement, I think I figured it out. And. by the way, as a side note, just typing this in is making me cry I was so proud. Not a good thing at work so I will have to take a break and go do something else and then come back to this. I might forget everything and not tell you why I was proud but I don't think that will happen.

I am sort of back. People are walking in on me so I have to keep interrupting. I was only gone half an hour so if you could just sit there without reading for half an hour, you can simulate how this entry got entered.

Back to William.

What I found was that he was actually reading the screens and interpreting what they were telling Maeghan to do. Not just the gist of it but actually reading the words, understanding them, and relaying the information to Maeghan so she could understand what she needed to do. And he was doing it across multiple screens, so that you had to remember what one screen said and apply it to the next screen. It was amazing. I could barely follow what he was doing. Maeghan just did it and for the most part, it worked. She got past each of those sections and she did it by following exactly what William was saying to do.

Now this is what is amazing about this and came as a total surprise to me. I didn't think he could read. I thought he could definitely not read that quickly. And, I did not think he understand most of what he was reading. But he could and he did.

A screen would come up, he would read it out loud, and then decide she needed to go to another screen to read that and understand what she needed to do. And he was doing it as quickly as she could change screens. I couldn't barely read it that fast. He was not sounding it out, he was not memorizing it, he was reading it. I watched him do it for a good fifteen minutes. It was truly amazing.

Eventually, Maeghan got tired of him telling her what to do. He got tired of hearing her telling him to go away. So he decided to go watch videos again in his room. As he got up to leave, I told him that was a damn good job. He had no idea what I was talking about. I told him I was proud of him for reading all those screens and doing his best to help Maeghan. I told him I did not know he could read that well and that it was amazing to see him do it so fast and get it right all the time. He kind of looked at me, then smiled really big, came over and gave me a really big hug. He then said, thanks Dad and went on his way to his room. I don't think he understand how much that meant to me, seeing him do that, but I will tell him again when I get home. It was amazing.

Now I don't think he does that all the time. I think he still struggles when trying to read a book or participate in class but I don't really know that for a fact. I don't hear about him having problems at school anymore but I have always assumed it is because they just learned to live with him. Maybe he is actually getting better. Maybe this was not just a fluke and maybe he can read and understand and do the things he will need to do in life. I am hoping beyond on hope that it will be the case, but I need to talk to him about it more to be sure.

It could be because it was a video game, the thing he loves the most, and having it be part of that, he payed more attention and concentrated a little more. It could be that Maeghan was letting him help and he was getting it right most of the time so he just tried harder. But I don't think that explains it all. Yes, it is probably a big part of it but I think he can read and understand and if he has enough motivation to do it, he can do it.

Now the big effort on our part is that we need to find a way to keep him motivated and keep improving. I have always said, if I can get him to read, everything else will fall into place. If he reads often enough, it becomes second nature to him and he doesn't have to struggle with it all the time. I can't say everything will be alright but this is about the best thing I have ever seen him do and it lets me know that there is hope he can get better and maybe, just maybe, his life will not be the struggle I have always tried to prepare for.

I have never worried about Maeghan, mentally. She has the mind to do what she wants. She just doesn't have the physical attributes to do some things like she wants to do them and that will always be her burden to bear. But I have always thought she would be ok, and I believe she always will be. But with William, I have worried and worried about it. He does things that are not smart and if we are not there to project and guide him, he will not be good at life. Now, I have hope. I have a feeling that we can make if better for him. That if I can show him what it takes to do something he wants to do, he will be able to do it, both physically and mentally. He's not there yet, and still has a long way to go, but that was damn impressive and I do not plan on letting him forget it. I don't think anyone else in the room, Maeghan, Juanita, or even William himself, understands what he did but I will not let him forget it and I will be there to encourage him in any way I can.

I think this did take as long at I thought it would so there is no need to add some filler. I think this tale stands on its own. Not that I don't have other things to talk about but I am going to leave this as a William tale and he rarely gets one all to himself. I can't really think of any but I think there have been a couple at least. Besides, I have to get ready to go home. I need to the day off and it is Friday, so maybe I can get some rest this weekend. I doubt it, but I might if I try.

So, it's goodbye from me and it's goodbye from my aching wrists.

By the way, I have added this note after I went back and previewed this entry. There are typos and misplaced words in this and I hope it is not too distracting. I don't want to re-read it and find them, so I typed this instead. Hope that is alright with you. Then again, there is no you as no one reads this, so I hope it's alright with me. I just checked, it is.

Until next time