Nanci Kuykendall

>Even if we don't ask him, we are waiting inside...
>And since he was born, he react to our "inside", and
>never to what we can say. Only what we have inside.
>He can read in our minds as if it was a book...
>I'm sure now he's telling us "leave me alone!!!"...

Both my kids are extremely sensative, but in different
ways. This description above reminds me to my oldest,
who is like a barometer for what's inside others. I
don't know if I would call it intuitive in his case,
because he doesn't seem aware often of why he feels
the way he does, or to understand these feelings, but
it's obvious that he's picking up on what others are
feeling. He amplifies these emotions he picks up from
others, and always echos them back tenfold in an
autistic parroting kind of way, even if he doesn't
seem to really be feeling that way at all (like acting
out an angry rage while trying not to laugh, etc.) He
doesn't even have to speak to or interact with people
he's amplifying, just be in their general physical
vacinity. It's often spooky.

His emotional radar is very strong, but with his
autism, he often can't understand from people's tone
of voice, facial expressions, and body language what
they are communicating (like when people are angry,
sad, etc.) It's makes for complicated and frustrating
(particularly for him) communication problems to have
all this internal emotional information without
knowing where it is coming from or what to do with it.
Fortunately he's very verbal and what one therapist
called "highly gifted" and so he is learning, slowly
and painfully and through unconventioanl pathways, to
read and understand this social information and act on
it appropriately.

In fact we've been told we've done miracles with him
for overcoming his particular challenges, but we take
little credit for that. It was/is unschooling that is
responsible, not drugging him or sticking him into a
special ed program at school (where he would
definately go if he were in school) or massive
therapies, or expecting him to fit into anyone's box.
Just being at home, where it's emotionally and
physically "safe" and comfortable for him (he's VERY
sensory defensive with all his senses) does miraculous
things for his ability to be less stressed out by his
environment and spend more time learning and growing
and being his brilliant self.

My younger son I would call intuitive. He
instinctively knows when someone needs a joke or
comforting or to be left alone, he cries when other
people are hurt, and he understands how they are
feeling even if they don't say a word, but he doesn't
just recieve those unfiltered feelings and act them
out in an amplified manner and without understanding.


Nanci K.