Josh/facts

Some things we have learned or discovered about Josh:

Abilities

• He is primarily left-handed (especially writing, though in some other tasks too).
• He can sign his first name on request. He can also type it; he recognizes the idea of a computer log-in screen, and will type his name as the username and password without prompting.
• He can recite his home phone number on request, though not very intelligibly (rather quick & garbled).
• He can figure out the rules of most computer games just by playing them long enough, though sometimes he will get frustrated and lose interest in a game before figuring it out.
• He is very good with arcade-style computer games, especially once he figures out the rules. He has the household all-time high score on PCBert (a Q*bert clone) and is a genuine Pinball Wizard. He also likes Kolf (on Linux) and spent some time trying to figure out Klondike (card game); he apparently got tired of this eventually and moved on.
• He has figured out how to operate the microwave (to reheat his leftovers) just from watching us.
• He figured out where the plug goes in the back of the DVD player on his own; we just hand him the cord now. (Confiscating it became necessary in order to prevent him from watching movies all night. Fortunately he has no apparent interest in regular TV.)
• He figured out the main melody to one of his favorite musical numbers on the piano when he was approximately 10, but has lost interest in the piano since then.
• He chooses movies and puts them in the DVD player himself, but hasn't learned not to get grease on the playing surface (i.e. his chosen disc frequently won't play, and he needs someone to clean it). While he does prefer musicals (and has a set of perennial favorites), he will sometimes explore other genres such as animation. He figured out how to use the DVD remote control, and spent several months (late 2008/early 2009) exploring all the "special features" in his favorite DVDs.

Interests

• He is most likely to notice that people exist when they sing to him, especially if it is a song he knows.
• He likes things that spin or flash; he also likes going fast on the highway.
• He likes to make facial expressions (usually smiling) at his reflection in various surfaces.
• He bounces on his trampoline to work off energy or tension.

Inabilities

What he doesn't seem to be able to do:

• originate speech to communicate a want, need, or choice (except under very specific conditions)
• signal by pointing at what he wants, or holding up an object to request help with it
• plan for the future:
  • he knows how to use a key to unlock a door, but he has never been known to hide a key for later use when nobody is watching; he lives very much in the present at all times
  • he becomes upset/angry when forced to wait for something he expects to happen, unless diverted by other engaging activity
• respect boundaries:
  • We can't let him outside the house without constant supervision, because he might stay safely around the house for half an hour and then suddenly decide to take off down the street.
  • Rooms containing things he finds interesting must be kept locked.
  • The plug sockets for his TV and computer typically must be locked at night so he won't plug them in and play/watch all night.