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Jeremy’s vocabulary developed in the typical fashion, “mommy, daddy, milk, ’round-’round… ‘round-’round?” you ask. Yes, ’round-’round.

‘Round-’round was the fixation of Jeremy’s expressing himself from the age of a year and a half to two. No words were more important to him, spoken more often, nor defined his world better than ’round-’round” or a-round-a-round. ’Round-’round was his first choice and he stuck with it.

The significance of this will not be lost on many parents of super-bright kids. These were not just words to Jeremy, they identified important machines… record players, gears viewed in a toy, vehicle wheels, propellors… anything that turned in a circle, went ’round and ’round and more importantly served a larger purpose in which to create movement.

By the age of two and a half, there was no toy record player, adult answering machine or toy with wheels that Jeremy could not take apart and put back together again. He fixated on the task until he figured out how to do it himself, working countless hours on anything that had the ability to go… you’ve got it… round-round.

Two things happen when you have a really bright kid. You are at once both fascinated by his abilities and questioning why he isn’t interested in the standard, age two activities. I clearly remember Jeremy standing next to our car in the driveway, pointing to the wheels and saying, ” ’round-’round, ’round-’round” to the neighbor. ”Square-square, Jeremy, square-square” . Said the neighbor. The neighbor’s wife also had a two year old who was your typical child, and the mom would invite people over and say, “You just have to hear Jeremy talk, he just says, round-round.” I can be either furious with her lack of sensitivity or chalk it up as ignorance. I choose the latter.

By age three, Jeremy had decided to teach himself to ride a two wheel bike. I said, “Jeremy, you have a tricycle, it’s safer and you are too small for the two wheeler.” ”I want to ride the bike!” (speaking of an older boy’s bike in the neighborhood). Well aware that he was a force to be reckoned with when his mind was set, I relented and stood outside for hours while Jeremy struggled with both the size of the bike and balancing. Peddle a foot-crash, peddle a foot-crash… this pattern continued for so long that the bike’s owner wanted to go home. Do you know that Jeremy actually continued as long as it took to learn to ride that doggone two-wheeler? Age 3, no kidding! His Grandma Shirley gave him a two wheeler for his fourth birthday. I had never seen him so happy. He had his own ’round-’round and the ability to make it function with his own two feet.

As for the neighbor’s boy… we let him ride Jeremy’s tricycle.

I never forget to laugh.

© Cassie French Ferguson, 2009, Autism Funhouse and autismfunhouse.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Cassie French Ferguson, Autism Funhouse and autismfunhouse.com, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.