WHAT DID YA THINK I WAS GONNA TALK ABOUT? I bet you thought this page was gonna be about the signs of autism, right? Well, in a way I guess it is. If you don't know the signs of autism already then you may still be wondering if your child is autistic. This page is actually about some of Mitch's favorite things, his level of appreciation for these things IS actually one of the "signs" of autism. It started out that Mitch would play with things differently than you would have expected him to play. He would also pick out some of the strangest - to me - things to BE his toys. He was particularly facinated with the boxes of certain computer software. If you know the game "You Don't Know Jack", the box has a picture of a man's head, just the top portion with a nice shiney bald head being most prominate. Mitch would carry these box's around (we have about 7 versions of the game) until he wore them plum out! He would carry them out to eat, to the store, where ever. He could not leave the house without SOME object, still doesn't sometimes. When he started school in February of this year I would have to be sure to retrieve the item of the morning before I left him, sometimes the item would end up part of where ever we had been. I can only imagine the surprise on the person's face that bought some lawn furniture from Kmart only to discover a matchbox car as part of the package. I used to try to retrieve the items - but soon gave up - he has SO many cars, we have to purchase some each time we go to a store, thank goodness they're cheap.WHEELS are also a facination you see. At first he would not play with cars like most boys, he would not roll them on the floor and make vroom vroom noises - he does now. He would turn the object with wheels upside down and just spin until he was distracted by something else. Of course when he was really small it took a while for him to be distracted, he could concentrate on things so intently. But back to the signs, he loves all kinds. Traffic signs - hey, they've been great for teaching him his shapes! Fast food signs - the first word he wrote was "SONIC", but that's ok, he's writing! I used to think he just had the sign itself memorized, but when he wrote that word with no bag or cup of any kind in the room I knew he was actually reading them. He'll name each place as we drive down the street, he knows them all. He has to stop and touch a sign on the street, in a store, sometimes I have to sit down in the supermarket asile because they now have a sign that changes to something else when he touches it - I may ask for a bench in the refridgerated section! Of course it's times like these that we get the most "stares". I really have decided that is the worst part of autism. It's not really Mitch, it's other peoples reaction to the things he does. Only once have I almost come to fisticuffs because of an ignorant person that just had to comment on my "bad" child. That was not a pretty evening! MORE ON THIS SUBJECT - LATER (no more time right now!) CHECK OUT THE SECTION TITLED "LINE EM UP" FOR MORE OF MITCHELL'S PLAY STYLE!