Tania, sounds like you have a "Natural" Engineer there. Taking items apart and attempting to put them back together is a common Engineer trait.
I couldn't stand destroying things as a kid, but I was constantly trying to build and create things.
My eldest son (diagnosed Asperger's syndrome and SPD) is very intelligent. He started reading around age three. He is now 7 and in first grade although he is homeschooled and is academically somewhere between third and fourth grade with Math being his strongest subject. He is also very good with directions like he has a GPS built into his head. My middle child (diagnosed SPD) is also very bright and has a strong point in reading and art. She draws very detailed pictures for her age and is reading at a first grade level even though she only recently turned four. My youngest (diagnosed developmental delay and SPD although we think he may have autism) is 18 months old and even though he isn't talking at all due to his severe speech delay. He can point out a circle and a square when given a bunch of shapes, and can do four piece puzzles. He also loves music and seems to sense the rhythm well.
Thanks for this thread, I love bragging up my kiddos strong points. It makes the "special needs" seem more insignificant when you look at what they really are capable of. Sure my seven year old may not be able to be in the church Christmas program because of his sound sensitivities, but hey, he is brilliant and loves to play chess. My little guy may not be able to say mama but hey, he's learning his shapes! My daughter is not capable of sitting down and eating a "normal" dinner, but she can read a book to her baby brother.[/i]
ability to think of stuff in nD (not 3D, nD where n is any number). Same as Beck said but can do more dimensions. Hard to explain. but anyone knowing anything about Linear Algebra knows what I mean
Trivia is quite good as well and quotes too (I LOVE quotes)
and am also fairly intelligent. Dan will attest to these last two
Well hyper aware of body language so I do very well when working with non verbal children/adults or feral cats which I foster....
I love this idea. I can play any tune I know on the violin, cello, harp, xylophone, piano, etc. without music. I've had formal instruction in violin and piano but not the others.
I can acuurately regurgitate anything I hear word for word.
I can recite 188 digits of pi from memory.
I can spell any word I've seen.
Basically, if I learn something, I remember it forever.
Great thread! My DD is 4 1/2 now and she's really good at drawing even though she still holds the writing utensil with her fist - I don't know how she does it. She also never forgets anything , she can remember stuff back all the way to when she was 1! Since she never stops moving she's become really great a cartwheels and flips and other gymnastics tumbling.
My almost 10 year old son is a computer wiz! He really wants to learn programming and to make video games when he grows up. My husband found a website called Scratch which offers a way to create/program videos and post them. His user name is facer (I'm not sure why). Here's a link to some of his projects:
http://scratch.mit.edu/users/facer He has a whole series on Square Peaple (people).
Video game programmers are the worst paid with the worst hours of all the software programming specialties. A person in video game programming doesn't usually last long because the companies can break their workers and there are always more people willing to replace them.
That said, there are many programming specialties that would be great for an SPD person. Fairly easy to set your own hours (exception video game programming) and sensory inputs. Some programming specialists can even work from home as long as they are willing to go to the company site at least once per week.
My son has an amazing ear for music. At 3 years old he would sit down at the piano and pick out the tune that he hummed all the time on his own, without me even showing him how to do it. He also sings songs from Frozen exactly on key, word for word and even hums the beginning intro music exactly like its played at the beginning of the movie. He doesn't play much anymore unless he is really over-stimulated and needs a release but he played alot more when he was younger and still can play that same tune. He also has a memory that just surprises me. He will remember things from years ago and tell me word for word what happened, and if I remember that time and most of the time I don't remember all the details but the event. It's like everything he picks up, he remembers forever!
My little one can memorize a song the first time she hears it. She has considerable speech delays so it iisn't lways exactly clear but she will know every word and the pitch and tone for the entire song. When she finds one she like she will request to listen to it or sing it all day every day till she finds a new one. I love it as it has helped with some of her more serious anxiety issues.