Journey With Julian

Julian focused on the picture of the leopard and began to smile.  We were visiting a bookstore when the picture book, featuring big cats of the wild, caught his eye.  “Hey Dad, I want that book.”  This was the first time since last summer that he had initiated real dialogue or shown any significant interest in anything.  You’ll recall(from my earlier posts), he’d socially, verbally and emotionally retreated to the point that rare was the circumstance when we could engage him in any activity or conversation.

Pleasantly surprised, I quickly started with the questions.  What about this book piqued his interest?  What could he tell me about the leopard on the cover?  How were leopards different from cheetahs?  Look the same to me. He responded in rapid fire fashion, with certainty and strong voice.  Cheetahs have longer legs, smaller heads and are much faster than leopards.  In fact they are the world’s swiftest land animals, reaching speeds of up to 75 miles per hour . They can go from 0 to 64 miles per hour in three seconds.  Thanks for the tutorial son.

Over the last few weeks we’ve watched as his old interests resurfaced.  Animal Planet, Disney movies and mythological creatures.  He even has begun drawing again!  The interesting thing is that after a dormant period of nearly eight months he seems to have retained his artistic ability and , nearly encyclopedic, knowledge of animals.

Recently I asked him to draw a detailed scene of the Serengeti, one of his favorite places on earth.  I fully expected there to be a bit of hesitancy.  After all, he hadn’t held a pen to draw since mid-summer.  At the very least I anticipated he would need to see a picture to jog his memory.  No reminders or assistance were necessary.

The drawing flowed out of him like he had been doing it every day without pause.  The detail was amazing. Watching him work from memory with such care and precision made me think of  Stephen Wiltshire, the young man who drew an intricate picture, eighteen feet wide, of the New York city skyline after viewing it one time during a twenty-minute helicopter ride.

This underscores, what the International Society of Autism Research has determined is “the greater long-term retention of memory for details” that some people with autism posses.  Julian is living proof.  Despite that sustained period of detachment he is quick to recall specifics about his areas of interest.  It’s as if this storehouse of information has been slumbering inside him all this time, waiting for Julian to allow it to come out of hibernation.

What triggered this re-engagement with the external world?  I have no idea. Maybe his therapist will help shed some light on that, but the most important thing is that our son is laughing, drawing and talking again.  All is not perfect, we continue to deal with other challenges, some new, that he faces.  Seeing those beautiful eyes sparkle with curiosity and a new-found sense of happiness is enough to fortify Martina and me as this special journey continues with our wondrous son.

He’s even back on the computer, daily, searching for information on animals and he wants to share.  “Mom, Dad come look at this!” has become a regular excited refrain in our house.

Few things have ever sounded better to me.