When we built our current home in 2000, Micah was given his own room painted Robin Egg Blue with a red carpet. Although his bedding had been updated over the years from super heroes motif to solids and plaids not much else had been changed in almost twenty five years. A couple months ago I was looking at his mattress on the twin bed he has slept on since he was a little guy and realized he was in dire need of a new mattress. Now that he can tell us what he likes and does not like via Spelling to Communicate (S2C), I hoped that he would give input as to what he wanted. Micah has not been one to like change (or so I thought) but it seemed unfair that the biggest guy in the family had the smallest bed.
So we asked him if he just wanted a new twin mattress or would he like a bigger bed. I found out pretty quickly that, apparently it was me that did not want change! Micah wanted a big bed and he wanted his room painted yellow. So we launched into room renovation. Down came all the art work he had created over the years in his adaptive art classes. The book case that still held many of the childhood classics that I read to him and his siblings was emptied out (with some tears shed by Mom but none by Micah).
Once the room was painted in a bright yellow that Micah chose, I asked him about what art work he wanted on his walls. I learned that that he did not want any of his art projects or several other things that have hung on his walls for years, so off they went. Melody took him out to pick out some posters for his newly painted walls and we were surprised at his choices. He chose a Star Wars poster (he has not watched any of the Star Wars movies since he watched them with his father years ago); a poster of “The Scream” which would not be my choice in a million years, but my sister knew the painting and asked me to ask Micah if he knew the artist. How he knew Edvard Munch is beyond me, but he did! Lastly he chose an odd poster of a monkey in a space suit. When Melody asked him if he knew the story behind that poster, he said it was the first monkey who went up in space. I had no memory of any monkey taking a trip up in space, but Micah said he learned about him, and other space primates in history class.
We still have to go shopping for a new bedspread for his big bed, but for now he has been happily enjoying the extra space in a room decorated to his taste rather than his mother’s. Long overdue, but much appreciated by all of us as we learn more about what he likes and the information that has been locked inside him for far too long.
Jan Lessard Peightell February 11, 2025