If you Give a Cat a Cupcake: if you Give a Kid a Chance

This morning, Ms Forbis asked the question: "What would happen if you gave a cat a cupcake?" (If you haven't heard, Cat, once just a character in the book If You Give a Pig a Party, now has his very own book: If You Give a Cat a Cupcake.)


So, with a cat puppet and a bag full of story props, Ms Forbis began: "If you give a cat a cupcake, he'll ask for some sprinkles to go with it. When you give him the sprinkles, he might spill some on the floor. Cleaning up will make him hot, so you'll give him a bathing suit and take him to the beach. He'll want to go in the water..." (And so the cat continues...on a series of increasingly far-fetched events.)


If you give a kid a cupcake—or maybe even a parachute...what would he (or she) do?



If you give a "special" kid a chance at life...what would he (or she) do?

Ask these famous people with Asperger syndrome: Dan Aykroyd, comedian and actor; Vernon L. Smith, Nobel Laureate in Economics; Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokémon, Jason McElwain, autistic high-school basketball wonder.

Or these famous people with high-functioning autism: Temple Grandin, Time Magazine's 2010 list of the 100 most influential people in the world; Dylan Scott Pierce, wildlife illustrator; Donna Williams, Australian author of Nobody Nowhere and Somebody Somewhere.

Or these famous people with Down Syndrome: Paula Sage, award-winning Scottish film actress (AfterLife - 2003); Miguel Tomasin, singer with Argentinian avant-rock band Reynols. Karen Gaffney, swimmer, motivational speaker.

Or these famous autistic savants: Daniel Tammet Writer, linguist, educator, “1 of the 100 living geniuses in the world today”; Kim Peek, the original Rain Man.

World-famous author, poet and philosopher Tito Mukhopadhyay was diagnosed with severe autism. Yet he wrote poetry like this:

"I can't see or talk
Yet I can imagine
I can hope and I can expect
I am able to feel pain but I cannot cry
So I just be and wait for the pain to subside
I can do nothing but wait.

– from The Mind Tree   (more...)

It's amazing what can be done with a little help from our friends!