Special talent

It is NOT necessarily true that they are "usually gifted" with special skills. Often times, kids seem to specialize in certain things because it is what makes most sense to them. For example, sometimes the rhythm of a piano simply makes more sense in their head than talking! I am not a parent of a child with autism, however, I have an undergraduate degree in Psychology, Applied Behavior Analysis, and am getting my Masters in Early Childhood Special Education. Your cousin may never show a special talent in the sense that they will be playing Mozart by the time they are 18. However, that is not to say that they don't have other special qualities. I worked with a 3 year old that could do puzzles that often times a 5-6-7 year old would have trouble with. It really depends on the child. Good luck! Working, relating, and playing with children with disabilities is so fun and rewarding!

My son has Autism and he's 6 years old. He paints some really interesting things from time to time. I get him assorted ceramic and wood items to paint with water colors and the patterns and color blending that he does is really amazing. So far I haven't been able to convince him to paint on anything but those -- I started doing that because whenever I was painting ceramics he wanted to help, so I got him his own. I've also noticed that after he hears a musical melody once or twice, he can hum it perfectly. That might have nothing to do with Autism though, his father and I are both musicians and we both have very good ears, so he might have gotten it from us.

My sister is Autistic. She never showed any particular talent or gift until she came out of the bathroom one day and had used water colors to paint her face like a tiger. She had all the markings correct and everything. She can draw just about any animal you can think of without having a picture in front of her. Being around children, the majority of my life, with all spectrums of autism, it almost seems that is what is most calming to them is what they excel in. There are some though, who are so severe, that they never learn to talk or anything like that. What I find amazing is that my son, who hasn't seen my sister in over 6 years, has the same personality traits and behaviors as she did at his age. The way they talk is the same and the way they interact with their environment and their thought processes are the same. They look more alike than me and him and she is my half sister. Anyway, I just find all this interesting. He goes for his evaluation in February. He was diagnosed with PDD when he was 4 and we know that is a part of Autism. Just hang in there, they are full of surprises!