Concrete

A few weeks ago, Ray and I met with Jared's teacher and principal to recap his phonics program and see how we could help prepare him for the next school year. Out of all the things we talked about, one thing stood out: "Read books with him and to him, especially fiction books." Hmm... that seemed to be an odd suggestion.

When we asked why, we were told that he takes everything very literally. Some of the day-to-day things he says are, "That can't happen" or "How is that possible?" He is extremely inquisitive and wants to know how everything works or functions. At times, he'll even argue with the person telling a fiction story...expressing that the story could not actually happen!

Last Thursday, Dr. Champagne read a story to him and he was to answer questions after it. Unfortunately the story was something like, "You and your family went to the park yesterday. You went down the slides and played in the grass." When he was asked the questions, he kept arguing with Dr. C. and telling her that he did NOT go to the park yesterday. "Did you slide down the slide?" He'd say, "No. I wasn't at the park!" She explained to him that it's a story. He wouldn't budge.

My favorite one was where she asked him the question, "How many pennies are in a nickel?" He said, "None. You can't put pennies into a nickel." She kept trying to explain it, but he took the penny and kept knocking it up against the nickel and asking her to show him how it was even possible. He told her it could not be done. They could be stacked, but you could not put a penny IN a nickel. It's impossible. She was laughing so hard. She said, "He's SO concrete!" 

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  Ecclesiastes 3:4 (ESV)