by Preston
(original post on July 29, 2011)
As I have heard from other parents on children on the Spectrum, my son is ADDICTED to video games and quite often cleans everyone’s clock when playing them. I do regularly get to beat him at some regular sports games on the Wii (Frisbee golf, bowling, etc.), but when it comes to standard games that the kids play, I’ve got less of a chance of winning than a snowball in Arizona has of lasting in August.
About a month ago, Stephen decided that he wanted a new stuffed animal. Specifically, a Yoshi from the Super Mario Brothers games. So, we had him save his allowance, and in an effort to save money, we found it on the mother of all shopping sites, eBay. Got a great price with free shipping…from China.
About 3 weeks after Yoshi was ordered, he showed up in the mail in a yellowish-brown envelope thing with markings on it like when I go to eat Chinese. Stephen had been checking the mail daily for us. Apparently, Stephen was sensing the arrival and wanted to make sure that Yoshi made it to the house safely.
It’s been a few weeks since Yoshi has moved in. He became an immediate favorite of Stephen’s, and accompanies Stephen everywhere he goes. I mean EVERYWHERE!!!
The funny thing is Yoshi can speak. He tells us what Stephen needs or wants. He has conversations with us on behalf of Stephen. He talks a lot more than Stephen does, and Stephen is a happier child with this anthropomorphic stuffed animal. And for reasons unknown to Lisa or me, we have started using Yoshi as an intermediary when we need Stephen to do something. Asking Stephen to do something directly usually ended is some sort of disaster, but when Yoshi is asked to “ask” Stephen to do something, Yoshi happily obeys and takes Stephen along to do whatever task is asked. Now, the quality of the work may be questionable, but at least the attempt has been made.
Is this a stage in Stephen’s development that he will outgrow? Is the using Stephen’s stuffed toy as a means of communication a help or hindrance? Will he wind up taking the toy to school and having to leave it in his backpack during the day? These are questions I don’t know, but one thing is for sure; Lisa and I are enjoying the fact that Stephen has found his voice, even though the little green booger looking stuffed toy is the one with the weird accent.
(original post on July 29, 2011)
About a month ago, Stephen decided that he wanted a new stuffed animal. Specifically, a Yoshi from the Super Mario Brothers games. So, we had him save his allowance, and in an effort to save money, we found it on the mother of all shopping sites, eBay. Got a great price with free shipping…from China.
About 3 weeks after Yoshi was ordered, he showed up in the mail in a yellowish-brown envelope thing with markings on it like when I go to eat Chinese. Stephen had been checking the mail daily for us. Apparently, Stephen was sensing the arrival and wanted to make sure that Yoshi made it to the house safely.
It’s been a few weeks since Yoshi has moved in. He became an immediate favorite of Stephen’s, and accompanies Stephen everywhere he goes. I mean EVERYWHERE!!!
The funny thing is Yoshi can speak. He tells us what Stephen needs or wants. He has conversations with us on behalf of Stephen. He talks a lot more than Stephen does, and Stephen is a happier child with this anthropomorphic stuffed animal. And for reasons unknown to Lisa or me, we have started using Yoshi as an intermediary when we need Stephen to do something. Asking Stephen to do something directly usually ended is some sort of disaster, but when Yoshi is asked to “ask” Stephen to do something, Yoshi happily obeys and takes Stephen along to do whatever task is asked. Now, the quality of the work may be questionable, but at least the attempt has been made.
Is this a stage in Stephen’s development that he will outgrow? Is the using Stephen’s stuffed toy as a means of communication a help or hindrance? Will he wind up taking the toy to school and having to leave it in his backpack during the day? These are questions I don’t know, but one thing is for sure; Lisa and I are enjoying the fact that Stephen has found his voice, even though the little green booger looking stuffed toy is the one with the weird accent.
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