We had an opportunity to work with another RPM therapist two weeks ago and it is always interesting to see what James says to people with whom he doesn’t normally get a chance to converse. This therapist asked James what he thought the purpose of interviews might be.  He answered WE CAN GET INSIDE SOMEONE’S MIND. She asked him if there was a certain career expertise that he might like to interview someone about and he said I WANT TO LEARN ABOUT TWO THINGS: ARCHITECTURE AND BEING AN EYE DOCTOR.  Well once again we are surprised by James!

Unfortunately I am pretty sure the reason he is interested in being an eye doctor is that his eyes bother him a lot.  We have always known that his eye muscles suffer from low tone just like most of his other muscles and that they do not converge or focus normally.  The very same motor issues he has with his body and mouth he also has with his eyes. I think that is one reason that RPM is such a nice change for people with autism. Soma doesn’t ask them to look at the board.  She holds it based on where their eyes seem to be that day and if they are spelling accurately she doesn’t ask for them to look at the board–they can look wherever they are comfortable!  What a nice break from the constant demands often placed on them to look in a certain place. James is now able to tell us how  much his eyes bother him and we have been to the developmental optometrist again as well as consulted with  his main motor therapist who has increased his eye exercises a great deal.  James asks to do these everyday so he must feel the benefit.  For those of you learning about RPM from this blog please keep this in mind.  We have had to slightly reduce the letter board work in order not to overstrain his eyes.

Now onto architecture! He was asked to interview an architect and he said, NUMBER ONE QUESTION WOULD BE, DID YOU WISH YOU BUILT DISNEY WORLD? SECOND QUESTION, WOULD YOU EVER LIVE SOMEWHERE YOU DID NOT BUILD? THIRD QUESTION, WHAT IS THE BEST SKILL FOR AN ARCHITECT? FOURTH QUESTION, ONLY TIME YOU DID NOT LIKE YOUR JOB?

They wrapped up their session with one more discussion which was on sleep! Brianne told James that she had read an article about sleep and that it plays an essential role in forming and consolidating memories. She said the brain plays a role as sort of a mental janitor. She asked him to explain this.  He said, IT CLEARS THE FILES. TINY CELLS THAT NEED TO BE RECYCLED. She liked that he used the word recycle since it was a janitor analogy!  Then she told him that some scientists were trying to develop a drug that would allow people to not need sleep and what did he think would be different about the world if people didn’t sleep? He answered, SOME TECHNOLOGY WILL DEVELOP SOONER SINCE PEOPLE WILL HAVE MORE TIME BUT I DON’T KNOW IF THAT IS SMART.