When the topic of J's future used to be discussed, I never knew what to say, apart from explaining that he would not be an academic, or work in any sole responsible occupation.Today, I give a different reply.
Since he has shown such expertise with computers/laptops/smart phones/Ipads, etcetera, I have a thought that he would be a techie whizz. Sitting in his own office, waiting for someone to walk in and hand him a broken laptop. He'd sit and work out the problem, fix it, and then put it on the side ready for the person to collect it. No conversation would occur. Cursory pleasantries would be exchanged, but J wouldn't ask questions, and wouldn't answer any either.
His class teacher told me the other day, that when he was doing computer work in class, with her sitting next to him observing, she turned her head away to address another pupil, and moments later when she returned her attention back to J, he had closed the work exercise down, opened up YouTube, and had typed in 'Fimbles'. He was most annoyed that he was directed back to his class work! He has visual prompts - 'PECS' - that he can see what is coming up after he has completed his current exercise, and this is a big motivator for him, to get him to concentrate and complete his work. The reward, which is stated on his 'PECS' board, is keenly accepted by him - YouTube!!
Another career could be a sandwich maker. He is very particular about how he makes his own, and since I have allowed him, supervised, to do this, he is quite the expert.
It can be a very drawn out process though, as he has to have the butter spread in a certain way, and he has to cover it evenly. He assesses his handiwork from differing angles, and will make adjustments until he is happy.
The downside of this career would be the time he would take! You'd have to pre-order the day before, but it would be worth the wait, unless you ordered Marmite, or Nutella spread, and then he'd end up eating each completed sandwich - not a good business practice!
He has an amazing ability to recall events or names from years ago. He also seems to be almost photographic in his memory. I was shown a video clip of him at school, where the teacher used 'numicon' in his maths session. He was shown a structure, and immediately gave the correct answer for the number it represented. The image below goes up to ten, but he was answering up into the 40's.
Numicon
Continuing on with his memory, I can remember him being around two years old, and sitting with his alphabet puzzle, and completing it with lightening speed. He was able to complete it when it was upside down, with no hesitation at all. The picture below is similar to the puzzle board he had.
Wooden, lift out, alphabet puzzle
Then there is his art work. The creativity inside his head is amazing. As I have mentioned before on this blog, his creations are a way for me to communicate with him. Being cognitively impaired and verbally echolalic, his drawings pave the way for me to ask him what it is, and he usually replies with the name. I encourage this interaction as much as possible.
The Story Makers - BBC Children's Programme.
The drawing on the left was made last night. It is Jelly and Jackson from the Story Makers.
The man in the middle is Milton Wordsworth - played by Danny John-Jules.
I have put an actual photo of the characters next to it, to show his attention to detail with their hair.
I plan to help him as much as possible, enabling him to have chances at work, or learning new skills, as most parents of special needs children do.
As he gets older, the possibilities are becoming wider. Six years ago I would not have been as positive as I am today. I credit his school for enabling him to learn and develop so fantastically. The next six years will open up more opportunities for him, as he moves on through his secondary education, and hopefully the new special needs school will be every bit as good as the one he is leaving in just three weeks time.
