Ted talk

Bucket had to give an oral report in his english class weeks ago.  He had to choose a topic he wanted to share, do the research and give a presentation of about 3 minutes.  They called them "Ted talks" and watched several actual Ted talks to give the kids an idea of what to do.  Bucket chose "art and autism" but we found finding resources rather difficult.  Although it seems pretty well accepted that autism is related to artistic ability, the only sources we could find were scholarly papers, which Bucket just isn't ready to tackle.  We ended up just getting lots of info on Asperger's and Autism and he did a report on what autism is...

He started with a wonderful analogy we found in one of Temple Grandin's books.  All about how we perceive the world through our five senses.  It's what lets us know that everyone experiences the world in a similar way.  But if our brains interpret the signals from our five senses differently than others... we are actually living in an alternate reality.  An alternate sensory reality called autism.  He went on to explain what autism is, the autism spectrum and specifics about living with Asperger's and famous people who have Asperger's.  He ended with this thought:  people with Asperger's, and any autism spectrum disorder, are people too.  We have feelings, hopes, fears, dreams... and we may just grow up to be someone important.  He made a powerpoint to go with his talk... complete with animations and graphics like a UFO that beams down one piece of information.

He was pretty nervous about getting up in front of his class, but we practiced a lot at home and he teacher worked with him... and he did it.  And did a great job.  Such a great job, in fact, that his classmates chose him to represent the class in a school-wide conference.  Each english class chose two students to present at an evening assembly.  Knowing this would be very hard for Bucket, his teacher suggested we film him giving his talk and then just show the video that night.  So I had Monkey work with him to make a video over at the high school... it didn't go well.  Keeping her brother on task was just too much for her... and the video didn't turn out well.  He was distracted, forgot whole pieces (including his conclusion) and was hard to understand.  I knew it just wouldn't do his presentation justice... he knew it too... but even so I was shocked when he said he'd just give the talk.  Because, after all, "if I can sing in the choir and do a solo, I can do this..."

And so he did.  He went up on stage and gave his talk.  And he did SO good.  He didn't seem nervous... and was only awkward in his normal "Aspie" way.  (I took a video... but until I figure out how to have my computer read that file type... I can't post it).  I was extremely proud of him.  It was so far out of his comfort zone, but he did it!  And he looked not only so grown up and handsome, but also somehow... I don't know... right.  It just seemed right for him to be up on stage making a presentation.  Like that is something he is meant to do, to share things and teach people.

I forgot to grab a photo there... but here he is at home after we got back (and I made him throw his suit back on, even if it meant grabbing a different tie, since he didn't know where he'd put the other one).