Artistic Abilities

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I follow the posts on this group pretty regularly, and have learned quite a bit

from all of you. One thing I've noticed is that the majority of the posts seem

to be calls for help, support and advice, which is entirely appropriate. That

said, I thought it might help everyone to hear something incredibly positive and

exciting.

My son Owen is 6 and was diagnosed about 2.5 years ago. He is in first grade,

has a paraprofessional in his classroom, has various issues with focus, lack of

interest in reading, etc. etc. About a year ago we noticed that when things got

overwhelming for him he would pull away, find some paper and begin to draw, and

realized that art had become his " reboot " button. So, we encouraged it - we

filled the house with paper, markers and crayons, bought him an easel, cleared

space on the kitchen table for his art supplies, and began to carry supplies

with us wherever we went. More and more we began to see his artwork evolve from

scribbles into something pretty unique and interesting, so we decided to

encourage it even more.

I did some research and found a private art instructor in our community who has

a background in special education. She teaches one-on-one classes in her house

and has discovered that Owen has an absolutely incredible artistic ability.

We are so proud of him, and even more importantly, he is very proud of himself.

He has found something that he can excel at naturally, and it has been an

amazing ego boost for him. He now tells people that when he grows up he wants to

be an artist (he sometimes uses that as an excuse for why he doesn't NEED to

read, but we're working on that one).

Anyway, I just wanted to share that with all of you. And if any of you wnat to

see his artwork, his teacher has created an online gallery for him, which is

here: http://www.salemartexpressions.com/PictureGallery/thumbnails.php?album=24.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Heidi