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Getting The Autistic Child To Pick Up A Pen/Pencil And Write I found I had to give Zachary time to familiarize himself with anything new in life... I truly believe this "familiarization process" he always went through was simply his way of trying to make sense of new "parts" in his world. Pencils were no exception. Before he could actually use them as tools, he had to "familiarize himself" with them. He had to align them, stack them, etc. until the "newness" was gone. Only then could I even begin to put a pencil in his hand and help him draw/write. I found that to be true with almost all new tools. In my opinion, if a child has difficulty perceiving the part from the whole, then the act of placing a pencil in his hand, by definition, introduces a new "part" to his body... one his is unable to understand and cope with... one he is unable to separate in terms of "what belongs to him" verses "what is a separate entity" in and of itself... because once these "parts" (the pencil and the hand) touch, to the autistic child, they become a "whole" that needs to be understood in terms of its parts... and unless the "parts" are well defined, the autistic child, in my opinion, will experience frustration as a result of the simple act of trying to hold a pencil. Clearly defining the hand as an entity in and of itself, the pencil as an entity in and of itself, a sheet of paper in and of itself and stating that "I'm putting the pencil in your hand" as you do it, should help with this issue. In terms of the hand, all fingers need to be defined... counting them is perhaps the easiest way to do this: 1 finger + 1 finger = 2 fingers... working all the way up to "5 fingers" as you count and raise each finger on your hand and then showing the child he too has 1 finger = 1 finger = 2 fingers... again, all the way to 5 fingers. To define the pencil, tell the child about the pencil's color, that the "thing inside" is "lead for writing on paper" as you show the child how the pencil makes a mark on paper when you use it... the pencil mark itself should also be defined as "a mark"... I'd suggest using a shape the child is familiar with, such as a circle, and defining the shape as you do it. In addition, I defined the "eraser" as something to "erase a mistake" as I showed Zachary how to do it. Making a "mistake" in a familiar shape was an easy way to put across the concept of a "mistake" as I erased it. For example, I could state: "let's make a circle" but then, actually draw a square... Zachary would understand that "this is not a circle" and hence, I could say: "oh, no... that's not a circle... that's a square... I made a mistake... let's fix it" as I then erased the square and said: "all gone" and drew a circle. Notice again, that every single aspect was defined... the "thing I drew", the "mistake", the "let's fix it"... to help Zachary understand the issue that "this is wrong but there is something we can do to fix it"... the concept of "let's fix it" became a HUGE coping mechanism for Zachary in terms of understanding how parts fit into the whole... as did the concept of "it's broken" ... or "it's stuck"... all these simple concepts helped him to cope with the world at times when it just didn't seem to make sense to him... in so so many issues... until they could each be individually addressed. I encourage all parents to use these simple phrases to help their children cope. For more on this, see Words to Cope©. By saying: "it's stuck", for example, I could joke with Zachary about the fact that the pencil was in his hand, on his skin, without causing him too much stress. The concept of "it's stuck" allows "things to be put together to form a new whole" without creating a huge amount of stress. This concept can be used to help with overall issues with touch, and with anything else as it relates to things "going together", like stickers on things, bandages on skin, etc. With Zachary, I found doing these simple things helped him tremendously. By working with familiar things, I could easily reduce stress levels to help him understand the issue of "creating a mark" without introducing a new stressful concept. At first, since I used a shape he understood and loved... his love of circles (a "whole entity" in and of itself) allowed me to trigger his interest as I helped him deal with the overall issue of holding a pencil. The sheet of paper also needs to be defined... I explained "a sheet of paper" to Zachary as being something "to write on" as I showed him how to make a circle or letter on it... something he was familiar with. As I moved on to "other markings", I defined those too... whether they were just "marks" or "sketchings", etc.... they were defined as something to help Zachary cope with this new concept of "writing". The sheet of paper, I further explained in terms of its color (i.e., "this paper is white"), its shape (i.e., "the paper looks like a rectangle" - as I showed him the outline of the paper with my hand), its surface (i.e., "it's smooth - as I used his fingers and pushed them across the page), etc. Thus using familiar concepts of color, shape and texture further helped with the overall issue of "writing" in terms of removing the stress from the situation. Note that I would not use a "workbook" here... just one plain sheet of paper... at first one that has no lines... then one with lines as Zachary became familiar with the concept of "paper". A workbook involves a lot more in terms of defining the "parts" that make up the "whole" in terms of a "workbook". The concept of "pages" to a workbook was a difficult concept for Zachary to grasp... a workbook (or any book) involves a "front cover", "back cover", pages in the middle (if not numbered, they become much harder to define for the autistic child... thus, it is extremely difficult to explain how the "pages" fit together to form a whole). In addition, a workbook can have writing on it and if the child does not yet understand the alphabet and how letters "fit together" to form words, then, that also introduces a whole new area to deal with. Plain better, in my opinion, is best to get started with this issue. As the child progresses, you can move to "lined paper", and so on... always completely defining the new "parts" to each tool! Given that colors may play a huge role in how the autistic child perceives his world (autistic adults report that as children, they perceived objects as "colors"), I also found another great tool for Zachary. A friend of mine showed me a cool new mechanical pencil, marketed under the name Rainbow Stix. These mechanical pencils have something I had never seen before...the lead that you insert has three colors - red, blue and green. Simply turning your wrist slightly as you write makes you write in multiple colors. :o) For Zachary, these mechanical pencils provided that fascinating "unexpected"... multiple colors apparently coming from the same object... first the mark was red, then blue, then green... he was totally captivated by these pencils right from the start! As I wrote, I called out the colors. After I showed him how I could write in multiple colors, with the same pencil, apparently not doing anything to make the colors change, he just had to try it for himself - he picked up the pencil and started to draw/make lines on a piece of paper. He found these totally cool... and so did I! :o) The neat thing is that although the lead has three colors, as you write and the colors mix, you end up writing in a whole bunch of colors. "Color: The Pot Of Gold At The End Of The Rainbow©" in the life of the autistic child! :o) You get four mechanical pencils per pack, with 12 refill leads for about $2.50. You can buy these at Staples stores. The company that makes them is called Pentech, a subsidiary of Jakks Pacific, Inc., a maker of children's toys. The company can be reached at 310-456-7799.
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