Dhruv & The Solar System

One of the challenges faced by Dhruv is language comprehension!

Being a bookworm myself, I introduced Dhruv to books when he was just a toddler. He was extremely good with spelling and I was thrilled he could read by himself. Hence, it was only natural for me to assume that he would soon be lost in a world of books, like me. However, I was sad when I realized that he was neither reading any books nor even looking in their direction. I was puzzled and that’s when it hit me that, as he was not understanding what he read, he was not motivated to read. Language comprehension was the key to reading.

For the last few years, our focus has been on building Dhruv’s language comprehension. We have been working on all aspects of comprehension, including reading comprehension. The progress has been extremely slow and at times frustrating. However, now he can understand simple stories and has developed a habit of reading a different story every night before sleeping.

Sometime back I picked up this lovely book named “Simon in Space”. It is about a little boy, Simon’s journey through space to see the Solar System along with his alien friend Toby. I loved the story and thought it would be a fun way to introduce Dhruv to the Solar System.

We read the story multiple times and I also showed him a video called the “Planet Song”. As Dhruv loves music, a music video about the planets was the perfect tool to catch his interest and teach him. The Planet Song soon became a favorite and he started creating his version of the song too, even including Pluto among the planets (though now, Pluto is no longer considered a planet). He then went a step further and added two new planets making ‘Simon’ and ‘Toby’ a part of the Solar System. He was learning and having fun too! I tested his knowledge and was thrilled he could name the planets in chronological order from the Sun.

Now we come to the interesting part. A few days back, he told me that we stay on the ‘Earth’ floor!!! Puzzled, I looked at him and he said, “3rd floor” and then it hit me ‘Earth’ is the “3rd planet” from the Sun. Next, he mentioned two of his favorite people and said, “Seema Veliamma stays on ‘Mercury’ floor (1st floor) and Vasundhara Aunty on ‘Venus’ floor ( 2nd floor )”

People with Autism have brains that are wired differently, and I was amazed at the way his mind was working. He is joining the dots and making connections between what he knows and what he learns new. It is his way of making sense of the world. The other day he had pears for the first time and he said, “It is like an apple!” Then he looked at this replica of the Eiffel Tower at our home and said,” it is like Qutub Minar.”

Yes, Dhruv, you are exploring the world in your own unique way and you are passing on that joy of discovery to us too.

Incidentally, “Third Rock from the Sun”, is one of my favorite series.

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

Original Link here: https://sujapisharody.home.blog/2020/08/02/dhruv-the-solar-system/?fbclid=IwAR352bv3qEELp5Jea5FLhpihuyDFbK3pEtk9dT9QRdyRHrRjFsoXTGICHUk

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