An Email from Tony Attwood
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:49 pm
Holy cow!!
Well, in back reading, it is obvious I was proud of Beorn getting accepted to the Cambridge program and wanted to share his essays. But, I went a bit overboard, and emailed Tony Attwood about them. I didn't send them to him unsolicited; I basically described what the four essay prompts were and how I think his essays are pretty good synopses of the way AS personally affects him.
I received this in email today...
Dear Pam
Thank you for your intriguing email and I very much would like to read your son’s essays. I agree that the four questions would be extremely challenging for someone with Asperger’s syndrome and particularly the first one, ‘If you were someone else, would you be friends with yourself? Why/Why Not? I think this could be a question incorporated in the diagnostic assessment of teenagers with Asperger's syndrome and also for adults.
If you can, do send me the essays as a word attachment to an email. I share your pride in his accomplishment.
Best Wishes
Tony
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: FanofPern@aol.com [mailto:FanofPern@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 14 March 2007 5:47 AM
To: anthonyattwood@xxx.com
Subject: Essays
Dear Mr. Attwood and Ms. Sheahan,
My thirteen year old son, Beorn, was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was ten years old. He is doing very well with knowledge and accommodations in place for him at school and synagogue, although he still has never had a friend. He even did everything to lead the three different services at his Bar Mitzvah this past September!
After an intense couple of months, we have finally decided on, and he has been accepted into, a local (Gainesville, FL) high school magnet program overseen by the University of Cambridge in Britain. Part of his application was to write four essays. The four prompts were:
1. If you were someone else, would you be friends with yourself? Why/Why not?
2. What do you want to be remembered for? Why?
3. What is a mistake you're glad you made? What did you learn from it?
4. What are some words of wisdom you always try to live by?
He wrote these essays over a week to 10 days. His inability to think beyond the literal prompts kicked in big time, and my husband and I had to talk him through various ideas to get him to a point where he could then take off. But, the finished products aren't bad, in my opinion. They're definitely better than I could do.
The thing that really stands out to me is that if you want a synopsis of how AS affects Beorn socially, these four essays sum it up pretty succinctly. And I know he didn't set out to write that.
Would you be interested in reading these essays? I could email them to you as attachments in Word, or cut and paste each essay into the body of four separate emails.
Obviously, I am very proud of his accomplishment. But, I am thinking perhaps these essays may be helpful to a greater community than I can even imagine.
Sincerely,
Well, in back reading, it is obvious I was proud of Beorn getting accepted to the Cambridge program and wanted to share his essays. But, I went a bit overboard, and emailed Tony Attwood about them. I didn't send them to him unsolicited; I basically described what the four essay prompts were and how I think his essays are pretty good synopses of the way AS personally affects him.
I received this in email today...
Dear Pam
Thank you for your intriguing email and I very much would like to read your son’s essays. I agree that the four questions would be extremely challenging for someone with Asperger’s syndrome and particularly the first one, ‘If you were someone else, would you be friends with yourself? Why/Why Not? I think this could be a question incorporated in the diagnostic assessment of teenagers with Asperger's syndrome and also for adults.
If you can, do send me the essays as a word attachment to an email. I share your pride in his accomplishment.
Best Wishes
Tony
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: FanofPern@aol.com [mailto:FanofPern@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 14 March 2007 5:47 AM
To: anthonyattwood@xxx.com
Subject: Essays
Dear Mr. Attwood and Ms. Sheahan,
My thirteen year old son, Beorn, was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was ten years old. He is doing very well with knowledge and accommodations in place for him at school and synagogue, although he still has never had a friend. He even did everything to lead the three different services at his Bar Mitzvah this past September!
After an intense couple of months, we have finally decided on, and he has been accepted into, a local (Gainesville, FL) high school magnet program overseen by the University of Cambridge in Britain. Part of his application was to write four essays. The four prompts were:
1. If you were someone else, would you be friends with yourself? Why/Why not?
2. What do you want to be remembered for? Why?
3. What is a mistake you're glad you made? What did you learn from it?
4. What are some words of wisdom you always try to live by?
He wrote these essays over a week to 10 days. His inability to think beyond the literal prompts kicked in big time, and my husband and I had to talk him through various ideas to get him to a point where he could then take off. But, the finished products aren't bad, in my opinion. They're definitely better than I could do.
The thing that really stands out to me is that if you want a synopsis of how AS affects Beorn socially, these four essays sum it up pretty succinctly. And I know he didn't set out to write that.
Would you be interested in reading these essays? I could email them to you as attachments in Word, or cut and paste each essay into the body of four separate emails.
Obviously, I am very proud of his accomplishment. But, I am thinking perhaps these essays may be helpful to a greater community than I can even imagine.
Sincerely,
My email addy is m.clark42 AT gmail DOT com