November 17, 2009

There is not much known about Autism and where it comes from. There are also plenty of naïve people who believe that people with Autism are not very intelligent. The fact of the matter is, there isn’t a lot of research out there. The child I mentor has a functioning form of Autism called Asperger’s. I had spoken with his parents and they had told me how bright he was. They are simply having trouble channeling his intelligence to something. At the end of our session today, I asked him if he was interested in playing a game of chess with me. In the past I have tried other activities with him and they have been semi successful. Right away he showed an incredible interest in the game. As I explained to him how all of the pieces moved and the object of the game, he showed the most focus and interest I have seen yet. It was amazing how fast he picked up the game. During our game his mother had arrived and he said he did not want to leave. The program only runs until 6:00pm and we ended up staying until 6:45pm. During the game, I assisted him to a certain level. I explained to him the strategy of using multiple pieces to try and capture my king. He picked up on everything so quickly, I was blown away. At the end, her mother said to me that she thinks we might be on to something.