Things I know for sure...Nicky hears everything
Nicky takes in more than I can imagine.
He memorizes images, words, video's, directions, locations and just about everything he pays attention to.
The down side is he's STINGY!. He takes stuff in, but he doesn't let much out. I don't get confirmation about what he knows until he decides to share. The upside, those occasional wonderful surprises that take my breath away. Sometimes it's the clear sentences complete with humor even sarcasm; delivered perfectly, when I didn't even think he was paying attention to what was happening around him. Or a moment when I reintroduce a concept, that failed when first introduced, and he picks it up as if it was never a challenge. For example, I remember when he signed the entire alphabet perfectly, without having even done it before, and without any of us knowing where he learned it. After lot's of research we learned that he has been exposed to a "Sign Your ABC's"poster in his 1st grade classroom . He memorized it and five years later, he began signing perfectly! His latest has been keeping his TV turned on when he goes to sleep, tuned into our local PBS station. Can't wait to see how that manifests itself!
I learned this fact about my students with autism the first year I taught them: they can absorb whatever is going on whether it looks like they are paying attention or not. I decided just to pour it all in and see what stuck. And lo and behold, the kids who stemmed all day long would recite what we had done in the morning later in the afternoon. The one who practically stood on his head all day would get 100% on his math test. They definitely learn stuff we have no idea how they got! love these kids!
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