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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:18 pm
Kaito caught the ball easily, and then he tossed it up again and caught it himself.
"Yeah, though he could make a lot more progress than he is," he frowned. "Not that he's lazy, he tries ... he really does ..."
He set the baseball aside and sat up, running his fingers through his white hair and grinning at Eron. "But hey, you didn't come in here to hear me gripe. What's up?"
It was good to say that and have people know what he meant.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:20 pm
"If it doesn't bother you too much, what did you want Andarien to do when you used those pressure points on him?" Eron asked, "Every action has a lesson, and I know you wanted him to do something about it, but I wanted to hear it from you."
In case he was wrong, but he was pretty sure that Andarien was simply (though there was nothing simple about it) missing something unspoken that Kaito wanted from him.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:30 pm
Kaito jumped to his feet, more out of boredom and a need to do something physical than anything else.
"Teach him to ask a bloody question," he muttered. "The kid's a genius, certifiable - maybe not to the same degree as Shiro or myself, but genius nonetheless - but he just takes things without asking what's the point. I mean I could beat the bloody tar out of him and he won't stop me. I use pressure points on him and he doesn't ask how to undo it. Just yells at me and cusses a blue streak."
"You could always point it out to him," Shiro muttered from where he was working.
"Oh, come on, if a genius like him can't figure out how to ask a question then something's wrong," Kaito snorted.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:36 pm
"Actually.... I think there is something wrong," Eron replied softly.
He made his way over to Kaito and took a seat beside him. Eron wasn't really sure what exactly it was, because Andarien would be considered high functioning, almost to the point where he might not qualify for funded help, but something was there.
"Have you ever heard of the term, 'too exceptional'?"
Eron figured that would be the best way to start since he didn't have a diagnosis and he wasn't qualified to give one. He heard a different parent use it, it gave hope to parents who didn't know how to handle their child. He also heard from a social worker, this might not be the best way to go around it, because not all children were savants, but he figured Andarien more than qualified for that label.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:44 pm
Kaito blinked at Eron and sat next to him, and even Shiro left his microscope and turned around to face the two of them.
"Believe it or not, no," Shiro said slowly, leaning forward towards them. "Please explain."
There were many in the family who were exceptional, and he was well aware of this - Kali and her tinkering, Serenity and her art, and that was just barely scratching the surface. He and Kaito were two more examples of exceptional people. It wasn't bragging to stay it, it was simple fact.
But that Andarien was too exceptional ... and that it meant something was wrong ... that was a disturbing thought.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 8:09 pm
"It's a term some people use for children who are so brilliant in one aspect that they end up thinking very differently to the point where they are often handicapped either socially or academically," Eron explains, "Andarien, I don't think, is capable of picking up unspoken lessons, social norms we take for granted without being told is hard for him to pick up. We can pick up by observation and interaction, he has to be told. Yes, explains why he takes things literally."
Eron looked over at Kaito, as if to say, Kaito was going to have to tell Anderian things bluntly.
"I also think, he has trouble understanding his own emotions, he doesn't quite know why he acts the way he does, which would also explain why he acts out in ways that most would find extreme. There's also the problem of him not asking questions, I did ask him why he never asked Kaito. I think part of it, he doesn't know, the other part is, Kaito is his teacher. I'm pretty sure he would be very easy to lie to, which isn't unheard of if you're already socially handicapped."
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 8:14 pm
Shiro and Kaito exchanged a look, and then Shiro turned back to Eron and murmured, "I suppose that the fact that he always needs acknowledgement for any sort of accomplishment might have something to do with that as well?"
He ran his fingers through his hair. "He's always been the kind of kid who needs to have his successes acknowledged. Praised, even. And when he doesn't do well in something it eats at him."
"And how," Kaito quipped.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:13 am
"Possibly, you know, if you asked him if he doesn't like certain subjects because he's not good at them or because they are hard, he can't give you an answer. Actually he can't give you an answer for a lot of the quirks he does, like not asking Kaito any questions for example," Eron explained.
He wasn't sure if there was any way to teach Andarien without constantly giving positive reinforcement.
"Anything emotional, things we take for granted, if you asked him, and he'll think about it, he can't explain why. Probably part of it is his emotional awareness, there are times he does act like he's five or ten, but rarely ever his own age."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 12:42 pm
"And just what do you assume is his age?" Kaito asked, challenging Eron.
Shiro put a stop to that before it went any further than the question. "Andarien is a stage-growing child," he explained, trusting that Eron would know what that meant. "He's actually only about three years old. And that's probably why we never thought about him acting younger than his physical age, too - we always explained it as he had just grown and it would take time for his mind to catch up to his body."
He shrugged. "Maybe we just took it too much for granted that everyone is different and used that to explain why Andarien didn't seem to mature very quickly."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 1:05 pm
"How long was his last growth?" Eron asked seriously.
He knew of stage growing children, but he knew that the adjustment period was generally short. At the longest maybe a year, any longer and that would call for an assessment.
Eron sighed as he ran his hand through his hair, "Look, I'm not saying anything less about Andarien, but you can't assume he reads the situation the way you would, and his actions make other people outside this group read him in ways he wouldn't expect."
He looked specifically at Kaito.
"He thinks you're a jerk by your actions, yes, he acknowledges you're teaching him, but he thinks you can be a jerk."
He looked to Shiro.
"The only reason why I looked into it is because his ability to go from raging angry to very happy put Shoneah off. She found him unpredictable, which in turned made her worried because she took his rage as someone who would have done harm."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 1:16 pm
"It has to have been ... probably a year and a half since his last growth," Shiro said thoughtfully. "And just so that you know for sure, yes, Kaito is a jerk. It's not just Andarien's perception."
"Hey!" Kaito protested.
Shiro just looked him, and Kaito's protest quickly died.
"And perhaps we should talk to Shoneah, put her mind at ease," Shiro added, turning back to Eron. "Even at his most dangerous, Andarien couldn't hurt anyone. Probably why he has so much difficulty learning weaponry and physical defense."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 1:27 pm
"I already talked to her," Eron assured Shiro, "One of the things we were taught by the school board is how to reassure parents who didn't understand some of our more unique students."
It was just he never thought he'd have to use those skills to try and explain to a group of strangers he was traveling with that one of their own might need extra help.
"A year and a half is a long time even for a stage grower, but that being said Andarien is well adjusted considering it all. It's just," he glanced at Kaito, "You can't expect him to get unspoken lessons, you are going to have to spell it out to him, and in certain social cases, you'll have to teach him from scratch...."
Eron trailed off and sighed again.
"Normally my part in this is just recommend an assessment but no one here can give that, a proper assessment that is."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 1:35 pm
"Well, I'd ask what we should do then, but we're not Andarien's parents," Shiro murmured thoughtfully. "Really, you should be talking to Lin and Earendil about this. They need to know this, too, and they would be the ones to decide what to do next."
He sighed. "If we'd known about this sooner, we could have made things a lot easier for Andarien ..."
He wasn't entirely sure how, but simply knowing would have helped them to help him somehow.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 1:50 pm
"To be fair, the things he's good at, he's brilliant at them, I don't think I would have noticed either, it just... that's part of the training you get before teaching," Eron shrugged.
He would have just called Andarien quirky.
"And it would have been more noticable in a public school setting, here at least you had make adjustments. I just came to you two first, because I wanted to really see if Andarien was missing the point."
Eron got to his feet, it looks like he was going to have to tell Andarien's parents. He wasn't looking forward to that, it was one thing if Andarien was his student, but he wasn't.
"By the way..." Eron paused, "Shoneah is teaching Andarien pressure points, so him asking you is a moot point anyways."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 1:57 pm
Kaito blinked and for a brief moment looked the slightest bit worried.
"That's something academic rather than physical," he murmured. "He might actually learn that and use it against me ..."
"Serves you right," Shiro muttered. "Thanks, Eron. I hope it goes well with Lin and Earendil."
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