Fantastic

T(9) lives in a world very similar to, and yet sometimes quite removed from the one in which I live.

At one point, he was well on track to receiving a label containing the word Autism. I did not like that track, so we took him off it before he got the label. With a lot of work on our part, and co-operation from T(9), Carl and I have been able to facilitate a significant change in his neuro network. We support this with strategies that complement his learning style and needs to the best of our ability. As a result, T has grown from strength to strength.

Starting with ILT, then moving on to the superior HANDLE, and supported with Speech Language Therapy, our nervous, inarticulate toddler, prone to rocking, hand flapping and under a great deal of stress in numerous social situations, is growing into a social, competent, young lad with a mild speech impediment and an auditory processing disorder.

One of the interesting features of T's toddler hood, was his complete inability to comprehend fantasy play. One particular incident which really highlighted this to me, and has stuck with me, occurred wen we were visiting friends from our antenatal class. Their child was 6 weeks and 3 days older than T. As it was the middle of winter, and there had been days of rain, E had a pop-up tent in the living area where she had set up house. When we arrived she invited T to come out of the 'rain' and into her 'house'. T had never looked so perplexed... he was already out of the rain, and in her house. When she elaborated pointing into the lounge and declared it to be raining there, and to come into the tent which she clearly labelled as her house, to come out. T remained perplexed, and stated as clearly as he could for a child who at that time barely articulated any consonants, that "No it's raining out there (pointing outside). That's a tent (pointing to E's 'house')"

Turn the clock forward some 7 years... This same child is now immersed in a world of fantasy. His conversations are filled with commentary that I find highly suspect, and yet he is convincing enough that there are times that i wonder if perhaps he is speaking truth. I am fairly confident that the friend he made at the local playground when he went off on a solo walk three months ago, where EVERY single family member had a birth date that coincided with our family members... well let's just say the odds are more than low that such a coincidence would occur.

There are other times however when the line is not so clearly defined. There are the people that he has claimed to have met. A few days after having met the family where everyone's birth dates coincided with our own, he met another young person and their parents. Again I was a little sceptical, yet after a couple of days of him going to "visit" them, I got a phone call from him, asking if he could stay a little longer than I had said he could. The following week K and I accompanied T on an introductory visit.

Then there are those occasions when I *know* it can not be true, yet he has the ability to express himsekf so convincingly, that I find myself, ever so briefly, believing.


When T(9) came running out of his room one morning, with a mighty whoop, and looking exultantly into his cupped hands, and proclaimed excitedly "Look!!! I found this under my pillow, I put my tooth under it, and the tooth fairy came and left me this!" Showing the 20 cent coin he held so reverently in his hands.

For a brief second, I actually found myself thinking "For goodness sake, I thought the tooth fairy was pretend"

I eagerly await to see if this talent ebbs or builds into a career in writing, or acting, or evolves to some other form of creative expression.

In the meantime, I shall continue to tread lightly, and endeavour to navigate the slippery and elusive slopes that constitute my T's world as he travels betwixt and between.

I am grateful for the opportunities he provides me to share his world, as I continually invite him to mine