The Magic Daughter - Introduction [Me]

I've just started reading 'The Magic Daughter' by Jane Phillips. I have a feeling you're going to see a lot of it here. I'm probably going to copy entire passages here for commentary. I'm very excited about it; it stirred up a lot of, "Yes, that's it!" for me from the first few pages on. In fact, I'm only 50 pages into it, and I'm saying now that, if you have any interest in multiplicity, you need to get this book - the Amazon listing.

The book jacket explains that it started as a suicide note, but the explanation became so interesting to the author that it became a memoir that served as her therapy vehicle, much like this blog has done for me. I love the tone of voice she takes. She avoids several tones I've disliked in other multiple accounts:

• I am a victim; I've been so horribly traumatized. Here's a list of the terrible things I've suffered.
• I am a hero; I beat everything and life will never be bad again!
• I am a professor; here is a treatise on how to cure a multiple.
• I am here to provide you a chronicle of what happened; figure out the emotions yourself.

And none of those are invalid formats; but they sure aren't a lot of fun to read. I read them anyway, for the nuggets of good stuff and thoughts they provoke. But I'm liking this one a lot. I was already familiar with it, a bit, because of a quote I had run into previously. So it's been on my 'To Read' list for a while.

I'm going to re-read the Prologue and put in comments here, probably with some quotes also, and then make myself stop to read more to you later. I appreciate that the author didn't sit down to write a book for people to read; she sat down to explain what she needed to say, and then the writing took over. Writing does that; it does it for me. It's both frightening and terribly rewarding to have the writing take over and pour itself out of you, like being on a log ride that jerks you around and speeds around blind corners and splashes all over you. But when you get to the end, it just feels so exhilarating and joyous.

Scheherazade stayed alive because she was an artful storyteller. I stayed alive because the business of writing about my multiplicity took a whole lot longer than I had imagined, and because within days of beginning this project, I soon grew interested in the task that I had set for myself.

If you've ever tried to write a paper as part of a committee, you may have some sympathy for the struggle it is for a multiple to write a book. There are a number of people looking over your shoulder internally, all making suggestions for changes and wording. My system has agreed that this is basically my project, but I often rewrite entire swathes to observe the needs and opinions of my alters. 

The author talks about the struggle she had trying to put the different pieces of the book into some sort of chronological order. But multiples don't think chronologically. It's like trying to take the events of the Back to the Future movies, the Terminator movies, the Aliens series, and Star Trek all into one chronology (by the way - look here). Technically, it can be done, but they don't have anything to do with one another. Or they overlap in conflicting ways. Even better, lets do the chronology as a group project, and no one has seen all the movies; different people have seen different ones.

And once she got some sort of chronological order forced upon the events, then there was the repetition. Each alter told the story from a different point of view, so telling it once is like trying to build a police report of an accident by asking ten different witnesses. Some things will match, others won't. And everyone thinks their version is the 'real true version'. And then - something changed. Trying to match the different stories led to the alters seeing each others' versions and sliding around to overlap them - and some integration began.

So let's stop there for a moment. How much of our individuality is due to our different perceptions of an event? When you go to see live theatre with friends, no two people will see exactly the same show. For any given scene, one person is watching the person delivering the lines, but someone else is watching the supporting actors interacting in the backgroup. Another person is looking at the set, and another has run to the bathroom. No one saw the exact same show. This is where film brings us together as a society. When you see a film, you typically all see much the same show, unlike live theatre, and even less like real life. 

But when you have alters comparing what they see/saw in life, it starts to bring them together, until they remember something resembling the same show. This is part of why I blog. By putting down my thoughts here, I am telling my side of the story, but I am also hearing comments from alters about what their view looked like. It brings us together. And if some one of us doesn't have a memory of an event, reading it as I write gives them some context, again bringing us together to think as a group.

Coming Out [Me]

I was thinking, this weekend, about the order in which I come out to people about things. I have several things to come out about:
1. I have multiple personalities. My parents and work don't need to know this; everyone else can.
2. I am polyamorous. My parents and work do need to know this; it's obvious when I show up with two other people instead of one.
3. I am kinky. My parents wouldn't be surprised, my work wouldn't care.
4. I am genderqueer. My parents wouldn't understand the term, but they get it anyway. It's obvious when you meet me face-to-face.

My daughter and most of my friends know all these things about me. These four identities are all mixed in together, as well. Each leads to the others, and they support one another. Now, most of my friends are in the kink community; many of them are genderqueer and/or poly themselves. My daughter and I are so close, than I would hate to try and hide any of these from her. I would also probably be unsuccessful. I came out to her about kinky and poly before I came out to her about being multi, and it was a relief when I had finally done so.

But some people don't need some of this information. At work, well, they figured out I wasn't a 'regular feminine lady' when they interviewed me. I mean, honey, I have a shaved head, and wear a braided collar every day. I don't fit the gender norm. When I RSVP'd for three to the company holiday party, they had to deal with me being poly. But my kink preferences have nothing to do with work, and coming out as multiple could be, I think, a really bad idea. So that stuff stays off the clock.

My parents have always known I don't fit gender norms really well. I've been teased about being butch or a lesbian since I was a teenager - but teased kindly. And since the dates I bring home have always been male, well, obviously it's not quite that. But they accept that in me. I'm pretty sure my parents are kinky as well, but it's not something we discuss. I don't feel it's really necessary to discuss specific sexual leanings with my parents anyway. I already know that my mom has a buggy-whip and has been known to chase her husband, naked, through the house with a squirt bottle. Hey, to each their own. This weekend brought up the discussion about polyamory. There'll probably be a couple more discussions once that's settled in.

The biggest 'hide' I've got is that I don't plan to talk to my parents about me being multiple personality. I'm not worried about them failing to support me or anything; I know they would; they always have. But here's the thing: I've got things under control. Being multiple is not holding my life back or causing any great drain on my ability to function in life. So what good would their support do? It would mean that, when I visit, other alters could meet my parents and talk to them without the 'switching lockdown' I do around them. And that might be nice. But I already have limited time with my Mommy; honestly I'd rather not have to share it. More than anything else, though, it would worry them. That's the biggest effect it would have, making my parents worry about me more than they already do. And that's not a gift I want to give them. So I've decided that they don't need to know. Unless something traumatic happens and they develop a need to know, we aren't telling them that I'm multiple. Nor that Boss is multiple. It just won't help anyone for them to know.

Hey, Mom, I'm Poly [Me]

Three of my last four posts have been about being poly, not about being multiple. And this one will be, too. I'll try to return to my primary subject soon. But this is important, too, to all the people inside me. Because I came out to my Mom as poly this weekend. Not intentionally - no, I wouldn't intentionally do that on Thanksgiving weekend, which is also my Mom's birthday. But she asked.

When I moved in with Boss, I did mention to her that I was moving in with Boss and Metamour. Well, I gave her names, of course, but this is a blog, yadda yadda yadda... At the time, she asked who that other person is. And I just said she lived with Boss. I added that Boss took care of her because she's sick, and had a commitment to do so. And Mom veered away from that conversation, so I let it drop. In fact, her final comment on it was that we shouldn't mention her to my step-Dad, because he wouldn't get it. I agreed. So in conversation with my step-Dad, Metamour's name has never really been mentioned. But I haven't made any effort to talk around mentioning her to my Mom.

So this weekend, after one such mention, my Mom asked, "What exactly is their relationship?" I replied that she is also Boss's girlfriend. "And you're okay with this?" I assured her that I am; more than okay, really. "It's like a Mormon thing, then?" I told her we use the term polyamory; the 'mormon thing' has more to do with religion, but yeah, they practice(d) polyamory.

Mom then brought up how she teases that my step-dad's singing partner is sometimes referred to as her 'sister-wife' because it takes both of them to keep him on his toes and up to date. I said, yes, it's like that. And we talked about some of the advantages of having two women to keep a man straight. It happens in the theater a lot to me, too. And so we talked about some of the advantages of being in a triad - many of the ones discussed in my last post.

Finally, Mom summed up the conversation by saying that all she really wants is for me to be happy. And it appears to her that I'm happier now than I've been in previous relationships, so it must be a good thing for me, so she supports it. So I'm out to my Mommy as poly, and she's supportive. The step-dad, well, that may not happen for some time, if ever.

The Joy of Three [Me]

"One" is on his own,
"Two" is about "Me" and "You"
But the joy of "Three"–
Is all in being "We"!

from http://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

You might have noticed that our poly family is in a 'V' shape. I am in love with Boss, and he with me. He and my metamour are also in love with one another. She and I, not so much. I'm not created in such a way as to love a woman romantically. But we are friends, and housemates, and family. She considers my daughter hers, for instance. 

Yet, even without being in love with both of my partners, they are still both my partners. We are a 'we', a unit of three. If I am invited to a party, I make sure that we are all three invited, not just Boss and I. Because of her health, she cannot attend a lot of events, but I make sure that she has the option. 

If there is any struggle in a couple, it is 'me' vs. 'you'. Often, each person thinks first of their own needs and then only about the pleasure of their opposite number. In a triad, it seems to me that there is more of a focus on mutual win and group harmony. Because we know that the outside world is against us, we make an effort to think about the other folks' needs and compare them to our own. It's not that poly people are naturally more group-minded, but that they conscientiously try to be so in defense against this anti-poly world we live in.  

The only other time I've had that 'we' mindset in a family was when my daughter and I lived with my parents. We split up chores and responsibilities in the household, but then we all made an effort to not only get our own done, but to sneak around and surprise each other by doing someone else's chores. It was a very positive atmosphere, with lots of love and group-mindedness.

I've never felt that in a couple before. It's like we're not made to see three sides in a struggle. Just like we don't naturally think strategically in 3-D. Our minds are in a 2-D mindset. This Way vs. That Way. Winner vs. Loser. Up vs. Down. With a third person in the mix, we have to think about... well, about how we think.

There are certainly good things about being in a 'we': 

• In a couple, it's easy to lose sight of your individuality when you're constantly with another person. In a triad, you get both together time and alone time to be yourself.
•  In a couple, you can get bogged down with always being with that other person, no matter how much you love them. In a triad, as you trade back and forth, you get a break when you need it, so that seeing that person again is fresh. 
• In a couple, the dominant partner will get their way most of the time, sometimes breeding resentment by the person that gives in. In a triad, the two more submissive people can support each other sometimes, keeping the dominant person from always getting their way, which isn't healthy for anyone.
• Part of falling in love is the chase, the getting to know one another. You give that up to some extent for the security of being with someone that you love and know. In a poly relationship, there is the potential to have both. I can love Boss and know he's at home for me, but still flirt and get to know someone else - without risk to either.
• Some things Boss needs to be fulfilled, I can't give him. But he can get those things from his other love. I don't have to try to be something I'm not for him, but he doesn't have to do without what he needs for me.
• By getting together with Boss, I not only gained a lover in him, but also a friend in her. Another person that I can be my raw, private self with. Because she's stuck with me just as much as he is. There is security in being committed to one another. And to have that with two people instead of one just means double the security.
• In a couple, if one person is being unreasonable, the other person has the entire burden of dealing with that upon them. In a triad, the other two can work together to deal with that. And usually, only one is emotionally involved in the fight. You have a less-partial person to turn to who can play mediator.
• Many people, myself included, need to gripe and vent about their love from time to time. In my metamour, I have that perfect person. She knows his idiosyncrasies as well as I do, and we can commiserate together.
• In a couple, if one person is ill and needs cared for, the entire burden falls on the other partner. In a triad, two people can share that burden, taking turns or working together to care for them.
• In a couple, you have one or two incomes in the family. In a triad, you have two or three incomes.

There are many reasons why I prefer a poly lifestyle; these are just some of them. A 'group family' might be a more accurate description. I love being in a group family. More is better.

Poly-fannish [Me]

This Saturday, I was watching Les Miserables on YouTube when Boss finally got up. He always sleeps later than I do, and my metamour is on no particular schedule. Between drugs, animals, and pain, she may sleep all day and be up all night, or the reverse, or nap frequently. So when I get up, I'm on my own for some hours, often, on weekends.

Anyway, I was watching Les Mis and enjoying the singing. I am highly anticipating the movie coming for Christmas. When Boss got up, he teased me about loving it so much. After all, I'm an avowed Phantom of the Opera fan. And I quipped back at him that I can love several Broadway shows equally without taking away from my love of Phantom. I am poly-fannish.

He laughed at me and suggested I should write about that as a great way to explain to people how I can love several people at the same time without loving any one less. It's a good analogy.

Of course, there are other great analogies. My favorite is that of a parent loving several children. Just because you love your son, does that mean you love your daughter less? What's your favorite poly analogy?

Finally, a Good Weekend [Me]

We've had a lot of really rough weekends lately. The change in schedule really messes with us. Particularly when the entire weekend is mostly unstructured. No particular time to wake up, to go out, to come home. All of these things put us on edge. Boss has been very jittery, as well, which makes us uneasy, trying to not make it worse. He's worried about his job, about his other girl, about me not handling the weekend well. And there's a lot of stress in the house worrying about my metamour, who has just come through some major oral surgery and may be headed for some gastro surgery if things work out well. That means she's been on different meds, which have messed with her sleeping and her scheduling and her mood (and thus ours). We've had dietary changes in the household while getting through that, with more to come.

So that means the last several weekends have involved some crashing, some depression, and some lost time. And fighting with Boss. But this weekend was NOT like that.

-----

Okay, I started writing this one a couple of weeks ago. And this last weekend has been - I think - the third good weekend in a row. We still haven't had any more structure, but I've handled it better recently. Of course, we're about to go into the holiday season, so it's time to take some deep breaths before each weekend and plan on having to handle typical holiday stress. We can do this.

Out at Work as Poly [Me]

I have taken a semi-irrevocable step. My company has a Holiday Party coming up soon, and we were requested to RSVP along with the name of our significant other if they will be joining us at the party. I requested that I be allowed to RSVP for three, and included the names of both of my partners, Boss and my metamour both. That was several days ago.

Today I got called into the HR manager's office. The RSVP was forwarded to him to deal with. Now, his great concern was that, should I bring two significant others to a party, I would certainly be outed to everyone at work. And people will talk, as they do. I reassured him that I had spoken openly about being poly with several people that work with me already, as it had come up in conversation. And that I am comfortable being openly who and what I am. So now he gets to discuss with the executive team what the company policy might be for attendance at company events. Is it 'employee and significant other(s)', or 'employee and one guest'? He'll get back with me.

The largest concern we, as a family, have with this is not that I am being open about being polyamorous at work. I have few concerns there. The bigger concern is that Boss has applied for a couple of jobs there, and this could color their decision on whether or not to hire him. I've spoken with Boss about it before, though, knowing that it would mean he would be openly poly if he got hired there. Though of course there is concern around the uncertainty of how that might affect his work life, should he get hired, I think we found some comfort in the fact that it doesn't seem to have affected my treatment here at work at all.

The other issue with this is that the company has never had both parts of a couple working for the company before, either. The jobs he is applying for would not put us in the same chain of command, so I don't really see that being an issue. But either way, HR has to talk to the execs about me and decide what company policies are before they deal with his application to work here. So the Holiday Party thing might be jump-starting that a little bit.

More on Stephanie [Me]

I guess we can stop thinking of Stephanie as temporary. She doesn't seem to be going anywhere. But we aren't creating a separate space for her - she has been sharing space with Cherish, and it appears that is a good move for both of them. The two slaves sharing a room is working out fine.

She was out yesterday. It started with a shower, of course. We were taking a shower with Boss, and then next thing I knew we had switched. I knew it when I realized she was holding on to our left arm. I'm not sure when he realized it. But he had her wash him, and tried talking to her a bit.

I think she probably can talk, with some difficulty. It feels like the inside of her mouth is too big for the outside. I think maybe she has a speech impediment or a deformity of the mouth, or maybe an injury to her jaw at some point. I know she can make noise, and she can talk with Cherish helping her. But she 'knows' that if she tries to talk, the words won't come, and ugly noises will come out. She kept thinking "I'm not dumb." But in her origin time, dumb also meant mute, so I'm not sure which she meant - or both.

I've asked Boss to help teach her some sign language. Even if it's just pidgin sign-language that only works inside the family. We have some that we use. We have signs for when we play for safewords - 'red', 'yellow', and 'green' - and we use signs for 'water', 'coke', 'lie down'. I'd like her to learn 'master', 'bathroom','hurt', and something to indicate a safety concern, at the very least. I'd also like to see him use signs or touches to talk to her - 'come here', 'stay there', 'undress', 'pay attention', commands for her to understand. I feel like she could communicate better with hands than voice. Sound just doesn't 'click' well for her.

Touch, however, does work well - for all of us. Boss uses touchpoints to help us switch or to comfort us, some reinforced by suggestion under hypnosis. Holding our wrists tightly is calming, relaxing. Touching my nose is to bring out Stephanie, touching my left ear is a signal for Cherish. Tapping on my chest will drop me unconscious. Holding a hand on my chest will help me wake up. As a system, we've proved responsive to touch commands over audible or visual cues.

After the shower, Boss left Stephanie in the room for a while by herself. He told her to stay out and wait for him. For a long time, she just sat in one place on the bed. But when she started looking around the room, we urged her to investigate. She doesn't have any sense of the things in our room belonging to her. She touched some beads on the shelves, and then started touching the books. She doesn't appear to have any recognition of what books are. But she did enjoy running her hand (the right one) along the spines of the books, back and forth. I'm also curious about how she would react to stories on paper.

Another thing I noticed in the shower was that she was checking out our hands and arms, feeling distinctly detached from them because the skin isn't brown enough for what she expects. Not long ago, we did some searching through pictures to find someone that she feels she looks like. She got the best feeling from this picture here (-->) of a biracial teen.

Oh, and when she was washing Boss's hair, she had a sort of a flashback to several slaves washing each other's hair. She was much shorter, so I would assume younger, than the others, and the soap burned her eyes and nose. It was lye soap, being used to wash the bugs out of their hair, or else it had to be cut off. Apparently, Stephanie's hair had already been cut off, but she was helping to wash other people.

Random Mishmash [Me]

So many things going on lately. A few random comments on things.

I woke up the other morning to hear our neighbors upstairs having sex. This made me both happy and sad. Happy that people are having sex, happy that it confirms the room above us houses adults (or at least people of age to be sexually active), and so there aren't kids upstairs hearing us. Sad because it's the first time I've heard them since we moved in back in April.

I went Kinky & Popular with a note about Red Flags in the community. That means that something I wrote on the fetish website generated enough hits (loves, comments, and views) to flag it as really popular. The kicker? I hadn't written it yet. I had only written an introduction, to come back later and finish it. Well, after it went K&P, I felt obligated to go ahead and finish the thing!

I almost never watch TV, but last night I made a point to be home to watch the Firefly reunion show on the Science Channel. This is big, because I only make that kind of effort over a TV show once or twice a year. So of course the cable went out - twice! - during the show.

Friends that are unreliable. There are a few in our (mine and Boss's) lives right now that keep making plans and cancelling (or just not bothering to remember to show up). Or they are really friendly and close and intimate one time we see them, but then standoffish the next. It's frustrating.

Two good weekends in a row, with no one crashing out or getting super depressed. Yay!

Speaking of depressing, the deck work is still ongoing. No end in sight, really. I hate owning a home.

I'm starting my Christmas shopping. I can't go in stores this time of year because I'm allergic to the cinnamon scent that's in all the Christmas potpourri and sprays. So I'm doing it all online.

One of my friends mentioned Sign Language in the context of a D/s relationship. I'd like to learn, and use, more. I'd like to try an occasional evening where I'm not allowed to talk at all, but have to sign for anything I want. I don't know if I can go very long without giving up and talking, though.

Kiara saw Disney in Concert this weekend at the Symphony. She was so happy she cried. There is something magical about the intensity of a six-year-old's happiness.

Studying Pervasive Development Disorder [Gracelyn]

I am doing some general investigation of Autism Spectrum Disorders, or Pervasive Development Disorders. I see no reason why I should not record my observations here, if I do so anywhere. Here we can refer back to our original observations at a later time, and Boss or other people can see what we've learned as well.

The singular worry I have about this project is not in recording my research, but in doing it at all. It is a natural human tendency to see a list of behaviors, or symptoms, and say, "Oh, that's me!" Those who do it to a severe degree are considered hypochondriacs. But it's something we all do, I believe. So by studying ASD with the idea that it may apply to Stephanie, it's possible that I could create the problem in her. Working with alters, it's certainly possible to create a disorder within an alter that wasn't there before. Most especially because she is still only partially formed. Her behavior is not 'set'. However, there have been enough signalling behaviors to indicate the problem, so it is advisable to learn more about it in order to try and help her.

My initial observations of her behavior first.
-She is disconnected from the real world, even when fully in control of the body. She completely tuned Boss's existence out when she was listening to the shower, until he touched her.
-Her perception of time seems tenuous at best. Even observing her, I cannot tell how long an activity has been going on.
-She has difficulty making a decision to complete an activity, or to begin a new one. If directed, I have the feeling that she could do so, but she lacks self-will in this manner.
-Her verbal skills, even inside our mental environment, are stunted. She does not converse with anyone else, only projects singular thoughts and emotions. For instance, when she sat down in the shower, her entire line of reasoning that I could observe was "feet hurt."
-She tends toward repetitive physical movements - rocking, shaking her head back and forth.
-She is drawn toward water. At least two occurrences of her manifesting have involved the bathtub or shower.

I'm finding lots of websites geared toward parents of autistic children. Obviously, we cannot observe Stephanie's development at 1-3 years of age. She is, we think, 12 years old at this point, and must be observed where she is.

My first reading site that has potential is http://www.brighttots.com/Autistic_behaviors.html. The first section mentions an obsession with water. I was unaware that this was related to ASD, just observed that it was true for Stephanie. The obsession with numbers actually sounds more like Kiara, and as a whole system we are very routine-driven. Of the simple stereotyped activities, again I think of Kiara, with her tongue-clicking and touching of textures. I have not seen either of these with Stephanie, though I have seen the rocking. In fact, of the complex stereotyped activities, I still see more of Kiara, with arranging objects and such. I've seen no tantrums or similar behavior from anyone in the system. However, our depressions, especially on weekends, when routine is severely interrupted or lacking entirely could be considered a very passive-aggressive tantrum. Again, though, this seems to be system-wide.

Moving on to http://www.worldofautism.com/ASD/Speech_language_problems_autism_spectrum.html, we talk about communication. I believe that Stephanie had a short conversation with Boss when she first presented, but the conversation was 'filed away' by Cherish, so I suspect she was conversing on Stephanie's behalf. I do have an image of Stephanie having something to say, opening her mouth, and then closing without saying anything as she tried to remember the mechanics of producing a sentence.

Individuals with autism frequently appear to have deficits in paying attention to auditory information. They frequently have to be trained to pay attention to sounds. Even when they are paying attention, many individuals with autism seem to have difficulty in decoding what sounds mean and in matching them to words or thoughts. In some individuals with autism, this may be because they actually have difficulties with words and thoughts themselves. In others, it may be more because of a mapping problem. Individuals with autism frequently have difficulties with articulation, often as part of a broader problem of difficulty with oral-motor functions (movements of the lips and tongue and associated breath control). 

Yes, the articulation was difficult for her. And she does seem to process sound differently - with less importance. The sound of water on her ear in the shower was important, not because of the sound itself, but because of the rhythm of it. Boss speaking at the same time had very little importance.

Here's an Australian site about PDDs - https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2010/192/1/high-functioning-pervasive-developmental-disorders-adults. And there are a few interesting bits here:

People with PDDs are also often slow, untidy writers;16 typing may not be affected, in which case learning to type fluently helps greatly with written communication.

Why yes, we do have terrible trouble with writing anything out; typing, however, came to us with ease.

Many adults with high-functioning PDDs describe unusual sensory experiences. In particular, hypersensitivities in many sensory modalities have been described, but there is little empirical evidence that these symptoms are more prevalent in people with PDDs than in the general population. Individuals with PDDs have described difficulties tolerating bright lights or particular sounds, especially high-pitched sounds.10Hypersensitivities to particular textures, including difficulty wearing some clothes, can also occur.17 Texture difficulties may affect the ability to tolerate some foods.18 Some tastes may be very difficult to tolerate19 and there may be sensitivities to certain odours,19 leading to restricted diets.
Hyposensitivities are less commonly described. Hyposensitivity to pain, where usually painful stimuli may not be noticed, has been described,20 as has hyposensitivity to cold.20 Some individuals describe fluctuations between hypo- and hypersensitivities.21 

Now this is terribly interesting. Our primary has, for years, reported a difficulty processing strobe lights - rather than getting the off-and-on input most people report for strobes, she gets simply 'off', as if the lights are off entirely. The primary especially, as well as Silent One, often hear a high-pitched squealing from some electrical equipment that Boss cannot hear at all. There have been times that we have failed to notice pain; recently we burned ourselves in the kitchen and didn't notice it until a blister started to form. However, we process visually quite well, and are excellent at spelling and mathematics.

I will be following up with more research and observations. I certainly think it likely that our system as a whole, but particularly Stephanie and Kiara, would test somewhere low-intensity on the PDD/Autism spectrum.