Have you seen this child?

He reads saw for was.
He says a b is a d, and a d is a p.
He skips, omits, or adds words when he reads aloud.
She reads well but can hardly spell a word.

She writes 41 for 14.
He can do any mental arithmetic problem but can't write it down.
She doesn't know today the multiplication tables she knew yesterday.
He can talk about life on Mars but can't add 2+2.

He puts down the same answer to four different math problems.
He draws the same thing over and over again.
She asks endless questions but doesn't seem interested in the answers.
He is an expert strategist in checkers but doesn't understand simple riddles.

He has an adult vocabulary but avoids using the past tense.
She starts talking in the middle of an idea.
He call breakfast lunch and confuses yesterday with tomorrow.
He can't tell you what has just been said.

She can talk about Homer but can't tell you the days of the week.
He discusses monsoons but does not know the order of the seasons.
He can remember the television ads but not his own telephone number.
She can remember what you say to her but now what she sees.
She can't see the difference between Africa and South America on the map.
He doesn't see the difference between pin, pan, and pun.

She is a good child, quiet, and polite, but she doesn't learn.
He prefers to play with children much younger than himself.
She says whatever pops into her head.
He rushes headlong into his work, is the first one finished, and does every problem wrong.
She has trouble lining up and can't keep her hands off the child in front of her.
He doesn't stop talking, giggles too much, laughs the loudest and the longest.

He doesn't look where he's going, bumps into the door, swings his lunch box into the nearest leg, trips on his own feet, and doesn't look at the person who is talking to him.

He loses his homework, misplaces his book, forgets where he is to be.
She leaves a trail of her belongings behind her wherever she goes.
He acts like an absent-minded professor (and has untied shoelaces as well).

She likes routines, is upset by changes, and is reluctant to try anything new.
He wants everything done the same way.
He doesn't follow directions.
She is distracted by the least little thing.
He doesn't pay attention.

He doesn't look.
She doesn't listen.
He doesn't remember.
She doesn't do what she is supposed to do.
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS CHILD?

~S. Smith, 1979