Saturday, May 16, 2009

Surprised by a scout.
The other night at cub scouts I got tricked by a scout that I was trying to trick.
Every week I ask for volunteers to give the opening prayer, pledge, and scout promise.
The boys are anxious to do these things because it earns them a clothespin, which might earn them a prize.
They always shoot their hands up as soon as I ask "Who wants to..."
This week was no different.
After prayer and pledge I needed a boy to give the promise, but I wanted to throw my scouts off a bit. So I said "Who wants to..."
All of their hands shot up, and I said "... Recite the alphabet backwards?" trying to catch them unaware.
All hands fell, except for B, whose hand stayed high and who continued to look at me just as excitedly.
Now let me add that B is 8 years old and autistic. He is a blast to have in scouts because you never know what he is going to say.
I said "B, do you want to recite the alphabet backwards?"
He nodded energetically, so I said "Okay, go ahead."
B then proceeded from Z to recite the entire alphabet backwards all the way to A.
He didn't seem to have it memorized, but looked like he was thinking through it as he went.
He didn't make a single mistake.
He earned a clothespin and a high five from all the other scouts.
It was awesome.

4 comments:

Victoria said...

The BEST kind of surprise! My five-year-old with speech problems climbed in my bed a couple mornings ago, and while I was half-asleep informed me, "My birthday is July 10, 2003." My eyes flew open. How did you know you were born in 2003? "I can see it in my head. My teacher showed it to me in a folder. My birthday is 2003 and my address is 18. And now I can see the numbers in my head." I thought, wow! How cool is that? I love finding I have underestimated people!

Unknown said...

I do the same thing...When I need to speak about something that needs me to recall a visual memory of a certain document or skill, my eyes go blank or at random things and I am looking at recall memories in my mind....I totally understand this and get it! Although it unnerves some people, I am sure...it works for me.

Autism is one of the most underestimated traits a person can have. Woo hoos for B...that was great.

Lydia said...

My kids only say it backwards. I think my little ones might have problems when they start school.

Amanda said...

That is such a sweet story.