In a World of Their Own

My humbling new job can often be a challenge to me. I serve 5 austistic young adult women, many of whom also have mental retardation. As such there is not much in the way of "normal" conversation to be had with these young ladies.

As they sit in the living room, seemingly oblivious to the blaring TV, they all appear to be in their own little worlds. But what kind of worlds do these girls visit?

What DOES go on in their minds?

And can we really be sure that the girls are really zoning out and being in their own little worlds?

Standardized testing may have placed them in a lower IQ category and a low-functioning capacity. But what if these tests missed something? What if the girls are much smarter and more aware than what they appear and what we expect of them?

They are smart enough to know that I am the new staff member. And everyday they test me to see what they could get away with.

And for all we know, these young ladies could be working on developing a way to bring peace to the world. Only we don't know it because the brain glitches these girls have do not allow them to verbalize and communicate such an exalted concept.

They do try to communicate. Honestly, they do. And just like I get frustrated in trying to understand what they are saying in between humming, grunts, perseverative speech, and echolalia, they get frustrated that I am not getting their message.

That would be enough to frustrate anyone.