Allys Wisdom :: College Admissions Essays

Allys Wisdom   I take for baby-sat Ally, a little girl who has mild autism, for the past several years. She apply to only speak a few words and sit still only five minutes at a time. Now she is a barbarian who can talk up a storm and sit with me for hours while we enjoy a video. She is cute, funny, bright, and very caring.   Like the rest of us, Ally has her ups and downs. There ar moments when she is confident and moments when she is feeling a bit confused. She can be serious or delightfully silly.   One thing that distinguishes Ally is the tendency to think in very concrete terms. When she was young, we often played the What is it? game. I choose an object she identified it. The light switch was light on-off, and the doorknob was door open-close. At first-class honours degree I thought, Thats not what its called. Then I realized how arbitrary our conventional labels be. Ally identified things for their purpose and function.   Even now when I talk to her on th e phone and ask, What are you doing?, she answers Im talking to you. I have realized that if I wanted to know what she was doing before she came to the phone, thats what I should have asked. Sometimes we think we are communicating clearly, when what we say can actually be confusing for others.   Ally helped me the most when my grandmother died. She knew that I was upset because she could see that I had been crying. When she asked me what was the matter, I told her I was sad because I missed my grandmother. She looked at me and said, Why dont you try smiling? At first I thought that her suggestion was foolish, but I have realized the