The one incident that is forever burned in all of our minds, happened when Tallen was 3 years old, after he had finally started talking to all of us. Hubs, myself, and all of the other kids, including Renni, were sitting in the living room. Tallen came out of his room carrying a Lego structure he had just made. It was made up of 2 tall, nearly identical structures, both with holes near the top, and sitting side-by-side on the same base. He handed it to me and said, "I made towers." I handed the piece to my husband and said, " Look, Daddy, Tallen made buildings!" My husband said, " Goodness, look at these skyscrapers. You did a good job!" Tallen seemed annoyed and took the piece from his father's hand, put it back in my hand, and said, "I did not make skyscrapers! They're towers! What he said next left left all of us silent and covered in goosebumps... "There is a fire. I can't move.(He placed his hand on his his forehead) My head hurts. I am covered in red applesauce. Help me!" I don't even have to tell you what horrible day this made all of us flash back to...
He used to talk to an unseen man named George. Often he would laugh hysterically at something/someone we could not see. Almost like someone were there in front of him making silly faces or something. He hasn't mentioned George for a long time now.
Another strange thing he does... Renni ( his adult sister) owns 2 cars. A white one and a green one. More times than I can even count, he has pulled a chair to the picture window in the dining room and stood in it, staring up the driveway. When I ask what he is doing, he will either say, "Renni is coming in the white car." or "Renni is coming in the green car." I used to go over and look out the window myself and tell him that no, Renni was not coming down the driveway or that his sister was off doing this or that and wouldn't be visiting that day. But it never failed, if he said she was coming in a certain car, about 10 minutes later, Renni would show up, in the car he had predicted. These days, if he tells me someone is on their way, I listen...
If you have a special needs child and have experienced similar events, I would love to hear from you. Even if you don't have a child with special needs, I would love to hear your take on this.
3 comments:
I don't have a special needs child but just want to say you are doing the right thing by listening. Never squash down what he says to avoid him closing up and not telling you any more. I'm sending your article to my sister too...perhaps if she has worked with kids with similar occurrences, she may be able to let you know.
sorry..clicked the wrong icon and lost my comment above!
Hi. I'm Marina's sister -Lisa, and I work with children with special needs.I havent come across a child who predicts events in this manner,although I have noticed that most of our children are extremely sensitive(i know they say animals and children sense things)...much more than their peers.I had a child who would tell his mum(when she would arrive to pick him up)that there are 2/3 more minutes for our session to finish...None of us wore watches...and there was no clock in the room or any other way he would've known the exact number of minutes left for a session to get over.
There was another child who would play a game of ludo with me and would move my piece a certain number of squares and then i would throw the die ,only to find he moved the exact number of squares as shown on my die(much before i had thrown the die). None of us figured out how he did it.And like you said...it was creepy...but also amazing in a way!
These kids are definately 'special'...but not in the way the term is used.I work with 2 amazing kids- a child on the specturm(6yr old) and a child with cerebral palsy(7yr old)-and both of them can multiply 3-4 digit numbers under 3 secounds. You give them 3/4 didgit numbers to multiply,and they simply write down the answers without even pausing to think twice.
About laughing hysterically,quite a few of our kids laugh hysterically...most of the time ,what we believ to be inappropriate. But children with language difficulties tend to make associations to cope.eg if i close the door and someone says "get the phone" while i'm closing the door,in the presence of a child who doesnt have a strong vocabulary....the next time the child wants the door closed and doesnt know how to say it,he may say "get the phone"..which may not make sense to evreyone else...unless you figure out the association.I'm just thinking aloud here....could 'george' be associated to something else?There are so many theories on hysterical laughing though............
Your son is definately gifted in his own way.Its just amazing.....and he would probably be able to help people with his gift.Its great he has a supportive family to listen to what he has to say.
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