AUTISM SOLUTIONS
compulsion at all. It was the best possible outcome.
Peter chose to carry out his own initiative, a strategy
he came up with himself that did not carry out the
compulsion and therefore not reinforce it or strength-
en that OCD circuit in any way, all while exercising his
frontal lobes and strengthening his brain connections
top to bottom (point to first stanza, slowing down the
reactivity), left to right (bringing in reason), so execu-
tive function could come online (point to third stanza).
You could just watch those synapses grow, and watch
the development of emotional regulation.
So I’m now wondering if there could possibly be any-
thing more therapeutic than the arts. With the arts,
the child has a positive means to channel and let
go of all the anguish inside, to fully express, under-
stand, and process his/her emotions, positive and
negative. Those brain glitches may be companions
our children have to live with the rest of their lives;
how much healthier it would be to learn to accept,
channel, and transform negative emotion, rather
than simply try to squelch it all the time. The arts can
harness negative emotions and turn them into pow-
erful motivators for development.
I encourage all of you to explore the arts as the in-
tegrating and transforming channel that may turn
emotional challenges into the development of emo-
tional regulation, creativity, self-awareness, and
self-esteem, and to make something potentially
beautiful and enlightening for others in the process.
With art, you can be yourself, at your own pace, and
there are no restrictions or disabilities in the imagi-
nation. It can’t get much better than that.
Don’t take my word for it. Peter wrote this poem, de-
scribing how the arts have transformed his life.
Metamorphosis
I am autistic,
Greedy eyes and ears,
Wet in the rain of sensory deluge.
I’ve been a prisoner,
Captured in silence,
Voiceless and unintelligible.
I’ve been a slave,
Strapped to my obsessions
Ordering me to do nonsense, perverse to my character.
I’ve been a paralytic,
Feet stuck to the street,
People swirling around me.
I’m a poet,
Exploring the world with keen senses,
Sharing with you a bite of fresh air.
I’m an escapee,
Flying my soul like a kite
On a string of words.
I’m a tiger tamer,
Harnessing the energy of my compulsions
To write one more line.
I’m a listener,
Watching and receiving
Like a peaceful tree.
Joyce Show is a physician-mom of seven children,
the sixth of whom is Peter. Her book, published by
Jessica Kingsley in 2012, Teaching Your Child with
Love and Skill: A Guide for Parents and Other Educa-
tors of Children with Autism, including Moderate to
Severe Autism, shares how she, along with a team
of loving educators, helped her son diagnosed with
nonverbal, severe autism develop communication,
imagination, and identity step-by-step, using a
practical mix of teaching methods.
42 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 68