Art Speaks

I've been writing about using less talk and more visuals to help Charlie throughout the day, and in communicating with him. It's occurring to me that these visuals and images aren't necessarily how Charlie visualizes things. They're based on what we think might be an accurate, or at least a helpful, representation, of how he takes in the world.

I know we could be really really wrong. I was reminded of this recently when I showed Charlie a card for "bike riding" and he said "black car"---I took another look and there was the back end of our car in the photo, to the left of Charlie astride his bike: Same photo, different focuses.

The June 23rd Miami Herald reports on an exhibition of artwork created by developmentally disabled adults. There's an interesting twist in how the artists were asked to conceive of their work:

It isn't always easy for someone with autism to communicate -- much less share their innermost feelings.

But for Miami Beach artists Stewart and Dena Stewart, helping those who are hard to reach put their emotions on canvas has become a calling.

For months, the Stewarts -- co-founders of the Beach-based Center for Folk and Community Art -- have helped a group of developmentally disabled adults create pieces of artwork that reflect their life stories.

''We asked everybody to write something about what they would like people to know about them,'' said Stewart. ``Then, based on what they've written, we show them how to create their own artwork to go along with the stories.''

So far, Charlie has not yet shown himself inclined to represent his thoughts, wishes, ideas in writing. So we keep looking, though I'm still regularly stumped about how to understand what he's thinking. Arrangements like this one help quite a bit: It seems that he sees things in terms of patterns of colors, textures, materials (metal and plastic utensils) and shapes. Things get placed into rows (and the hardwood floorboards help).

All of which gives me a lot to think about.