A Gifted Idea!

We all like to brag on our kids.  All of our kids are gifted.


Superman just came up with a gifted idea (well he actually applied a trick he saw in speech class) and we need to find a way to market it.  Mama needs a new pair of shoes!


Superman is prone to very loud protests when not happy.  They border on what you all would call temper tantrums.  And they are LOUD! OK,  in reality they ARE full on temper tantrums.  As with most children with autism, feelings are intense and when in them they believe to their core that the feeling they are in is going to last FOREVER.  So when it is a feeling of discomfort, they can get pretty wound up and desperate.


We have been working on finding ways to express one's discomfort a bit more appropriately and we are starting with the volume.  We have been in this stage for a while.  For years.   But my little genius of a Superman was able to apply a strategy he observed in speech class as a solution.


Let me set the scene.  He was upset about something.  He was escalating.  He was getting really loud and I reminded him about finding a way to tell me all about it and how he was feeling in a quieter way.  


He didn't bite.  


He escalated.


It lasted about 15 minutes and I kept saying let's find a way to talk about it without you yelling, that I really wanted to hear all about it and I wanted to help him understand the feelings and then to find a solution.  He stopped and said he had an idea and went to his art table.  He was busy and quiet for a bit.  He then came in the room where I was with the item pictured below over his head.

A thought bubble!  Genius, right?  I believe he has seen a thought bubble used while in his speech and language class through the Superflex program.  I think they have one to express when they are not comfortable with something another is doing, but I am ever so proud that Superman was able to broaden this concept's use.


He said that he could share his feelings this way and that wasn't loud.  Thank you wonderful speech teacher and Michelle Garcia Winner for helping kiddos with social thinking difficulties.  Our family embraces and uses Superflex and the Unthinkables daily in our home.


OK, the wording is a bit clumsy, but he did it!  He then thought it would be a good idea to make more of these feelings though bubbles for other kids to use.  He generalized!  He has always been fascinated by cartoons and comics with dialogue and thought bubbles and now he realizes what a helpful tool they could be for others like him.


That's right Superman.  Make your first money doing something to benefit society.  
Good karma, no?
I am so proud, I could bust.  But more than that, I am in awe of his giftedness and generosity of spirit in that he wants to help others communicate their feelings by making more thought bubbles specific to others' needs.  He is starting to take another person's perspective!  This is huge!!!!


Yours are this gifted, too.