Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2001 10:26:00 -0400 From: "Samuel J. Gravina" Subject: Practice and Talent
I have two daughters, Hilary a 10 year old autistic girl and Lindsay a 13 year old girl.
Both are exceptionally good drawers. Lindsay has put some of her work on a web page (http://home.earthlink.net/~igravina/Lindsay/Pictures/). Her most recent is posting is (http://home.earthlink.net/~igravina/Lindsay/Pictures/Dragon_color).
Most people look at what these kids do and think "wow your so lucky to be able to draw so well". They certainly have talent but we see what nobody else sees. These kids have spent hours a day most of their lives drawing!
Hilary in particular treats drawing like most kids treat television. She draws the stories and characters that interest her and she wants them to look like they do in her head. When it doesn't look right she starts over.
In first and second grade Hilary was producing over thirty drawings a day! (Autistic kids can get really fixated on a particular activity.)
The talent gives them something to draw but the practice is what makes it come out beautifully.
How do you get them to practice? I have no idea, the incentive comes from inside them, we have to fight to keep them from drawing too much. If I did know then maybe I could get them to do their homework.
