TIMOTHY BLOSSOM—OFFICIALLY BRILLIANT!
By Steve Slavin.
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Timothy Blossom sees the world differently to other people. Barbara, Timothy’s mother, says this is due to his ‘special wiring’, a concept he struggles to understand – as does Bert Blossom, probably the grumpiest dad in East Winslow.Timothy is twelve years, three months and five days old. He also happens to be the brainiest kid at Highcrest Manor School, but only when it comes to science. When it comes to tying his shoelaces, well… that’s another matter.‘Officially Brilliant’ is about the year Timothy finds out he has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Or the ‘A-word’ as he calls it. It’s also about his blossoming friendship with, of all people, Adrian Wilkes; the single most annoying excuse for a human on the entire planet.How will Timothy cope with the complexities of making friends and becoming a teenager?
Timothy Blossom - Officially Brilliant! Excerpts
Hello, I’m Timothy James Arthur Blossom, or Timothy, for short. I’m twelve years, three months, five days, and twenty-eight minutes old—or at least I was when I just said it. I’ve lived at 47 Eaton Drive my entire life. I share the house with my parents and best friend, Schrodinger. He’s orange and has only been with us since my last birthday. Before that, my best friend was Albert who had a long green tail and ate worms. But I don’t want to say too much about Albert because I’ve only just recovered from the trauma of watching Dad bury him in the garden next to a tiny cross.
It may sound strange to people who don’t know me, but generally I like things to be left or right, up or down, right or wrong, black or white, round or square, fast or slow, hot or cold. I really can’t stand things that are in-between, like midnight and midday, and soup that’s thick enough to be stew.
Here are some more things that I don’t like…
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Hi, I am so pleased to have just come across your website when trying to find some information on Autism and empathy towards inanimate objects. My 10 year old son has recently been diagnosed with autism and having just read the blurb to your Timothy Blossom book, it sounds ideal. I’ll be looking to order this and as an avid reader, I’m sure he will enjoy it and read it within the day. Our son has been well prepared for his diagnosis and to him ‘it makes so much sense’, (he wants to have an autism diagnosis party! Interesting, considering he doesn’t do well with parties!)
I liked to think that I knew a lot there was to know about autism and we have discussed various elements of this with him to help him understand himself and his thoughts but shamefully I didn’t really put this together with the empathy of inanimate objects. I’m keen to share this with him as I know it will make him feel better about the sadness he feels sometimes. I always just thought that he was highly sensitive (he cries a lot when he feels overwhelmed). Today, we were looking at a poem for his school work about how cities might be feeling in the lockdown, might they be relieved at the peace and quiet? or confused at where everyone is? The task was to write a poem using personification, metaphors and similes. He couldn’t bear to write about the cities potentially feeling sad as it bought up feelings of him feeling sorry and sad for the cities.
In the past, he has got upset at the thought of having to throw away old school shoes, he gets concerned that his teddies might fall from his bed, he struggles with the thought of leaving them behind if we go away and hurting their feelings that they didn’t get picked to come with him.
Anyway, I know I’m rambling now but do you have any advice on how I can manage this and help him through these feelings as they arise? Do I rationalise it? or go along with it and say they ie the teddies, the city etc will be fine or agree that maybe they might be sad but that’s ok too? I now feel awful as I pretty much told him to ‘power through it’ earlier today when he got tearful over the city poem thing, when perhaps that wasn’t the best approach.
Would love to hear from you.
Hi Rachel
Thank you for contacting me. I’ve touched on just about everything you’ve mentioned in Timothy Blossom, especially around preferring objects over people, friendships and not liking parties. The book is based on both my own experience of growing up as an autistic child, and many years of working with hundreds of children on the spectrum.
Regarding your son, I’m happy to have a chat on the phone if you like. It may be easier than communicating by email.
Let me know and we can arrange a call.
Kind regards
Steve