Creativity and the autism spectrum
When we went to get Johnathan assessed to see if he was on the autism spectrum, one of the things said to me was that anyone on the spectrum didn’t have imagination. I was quite shocked she said that, because Johnathan has FANTASTIC imagination. I didn’t really want to contradict her, so I left it.
One of the things Johnathan did for YEARS was play a speaking game with his plushies and things, that he had created, that was ongoing. I will admit he didn’t like using art materials because he would get dirty or wet, the two were sensory issues that he had. But now, later, we discovered he had hand pain when he wrote at school and, because of lockdown, we ended up getting him a writing board to help him.
So I knew for a fact he was imaginative. But I couldn’t open my mouth and tell her at the time. When we went to the appointment, I had a list of ALL the spectrum things he had/did and I gave her the list after we finished. Johnathan also did the typical autism thing of lining the cars up he had been playing!
When he got to school, anything he started to draw or created was in black and white. I am sorry now, but I just assumed it was an autism or sensory thing and didn’t matter, or wasn’t worth working on and sorting out.
One day last school year something was said between Johnathan and we spoke about everything being in black and white that he did. So he actually admitted to me the reason he didn’t use colour was because the pens or pencils he would have wanted to use weren’t exactly the colour he wanted or he knew would break or run out before he could use them.
So I bought a folder of 105 pens and he took it to school with him. I knew he wouldn’t have a problem with the colours or the pens in the classroom. Made me giggle one day when the deputy told me he went into the classroom and Johnathan said he didn’t have a pure black pen and he responded that he knew Mummy bought a case of pens! The boy next to him spoke up and said that Johnathan had lent that pen to him!
Today Johnathan surprised me with his creativity because he was playing a game with his dad and put on some music. Kevin said to him “that’s music you created, isn’t it?” And it WAS! He has never formally been taught music, but created it on an app called Garage Band. He did an excellent job and I am really impressed with him.