Working with kids with Autism

Amazing article on helping kids with Autism by Ron Suskind:

"There's a reason - a good-enough reason - that each autistic person has embraced a particular interest. Find that reason and you will find them, hiding in there, and maybe get a glimpse of their underlying capacities. In our experience, we found that showing authentic interest will help them feel dignity and impel them to show you more, complete with maps and navigational tools that may help to guide their development, their growth. Revealed capability, in turn, may lead to a better understanding of what's possible in the lives of many people who are challenged." - Ron Suskind

Click here for original NY Times article.

Blue jays.

This one pays no attention to the seeds found so entrancing by most birds. This jay prefers to cling to the slippery plane nearest the sky. He feels the cylinder sway. Perhaps he causes it to shake. He enjoys the vantage point from the crow's nest, to count the stripes on his brothers' tails. He's king of the roost.

I just moved into a new house. This concludes my pioneer hours at (insert address here). And as I walked outside tonight to find some eggs to buy and cook, I read the sweatshirt of a girl walking arm and arm, carrying a loaf of bread. "Are you from New Hampshire?" I said. Her shirt was grey and hooded, and the words "Lake Winnipesaukee" arched across her chest.
"Yes," she said. "Concord."
I grew up not 50 miles away from Concord, NH, not to be confused with Concord, MA, where our 5th and 6th grade class drove for social studies field trips. We climbed the Bunker Hill Monument, counting 294 stairs.

"Oh wow," I said. "I'm from Wells," I said, and it was nice to see the light of recognition in her eyes. 

10 energizing and inspiring things:

1.  Polar-Dips
2.  When small children share and help strangers
3.  Open spaces
4.  Blank pages
5.  Fields of blueberries
6.  Stepping of an airplane and into unknown solid ground
7.  Tired legs
8.  Wilderness
9.  Old people who run marathons, raise kids, climb mountains, etc.
10.  Discovering a new friend

From East to West: Mt. Kathadin at Sunset

This is an oil painting I painted before I left Maine for Oregon. Can you recognize what mountain this is? I used a canvas that had been ripped at the bottom, and planned on painting a swarm of fireflies emerging out from the hole, but didn't have enough time in the 6 hours before I left for Oregon. This is the ultimate procrastination.