My son, the writer – SOL 11/25/14

I am still in a bit of disbelief about the words in the title. As would be expected because of his Asperger’s, my son has always hated writing. In fact, we’ve had to have various discussions with his teachers about his most negative behaviors manifesting as a result of writing: an assignment, having to brainstorm a topic, or even having to explain his thoughts about how to solve a problem in math (and he LOVES math) in writing. He would have a meltdown, shut down, or say he was not a good writer.

Until this year. He has actually always been a good writer. His ideas are definitely inspired by video games. But he can track multiple characters over the course of eight or so pages. His story lines, while sometimes hard to follow, are still there. His dialogue is funny. But this year, he didn’t put up a “fight” for nearly as long as he had in previous years when he was assigned writing. Getting to use Google docs and sharing his writing with myself and peers has seemed to add to his interest in writing. Actually, making it a bit of a competition (with himself and a goal, not with other students), such as through NaNoWriMo, encouraged him to write 5009 words (5000 is the goal he set for himself), in over 59 chapters (some are very short). He submitted his essay earlier today.

Additionally, he is completing a passion project. This requires that he actually have his own blog and write about his own topic. You will laugh, but his passion is Pi. He is composing a multi-modal piece about what he loves: math.

I attribute these writing successes and his seeing himself more as a writer to his teachers allowing him to have complete choice during writing. He has found his voice, as well, with the help of technology. As an aside, it gives those of us who know him a very interesting glimpse into his beautiful mind.