The week of Thanksgiving meant that enrichments were all cancelled so we had full days available to enjoy some CRA activities. I decided it was the perfect time to start the holiday season with meaningful and authentic projects. Given the short week before the Thanksgiving festivities, the projects needed to be relatively short. So, I presented the conceptual plan with three options based around his interests but with meaningful end products. E had the choice to select the projects of interest.

Emoji Proposal

E was very excited about creating his own Emoji proposal to pitch to the unicode consortium. We began by watching a documentary about Emojis from Curiosity Stream which explained the details of unicode and the process of selecting emojis. He learned just how few are added each year - 40! He then spent time brainstorming his own ideas for emojis that he believed would add significant value to people around the world. He moved from brainstorming thoughts verbally to sketching on post-it notes and eventually to creating high quality visuals with Adobe Illustrator. By the end of the week, he presented his pitch for the world’s first emojis specifically designed for the needs of neurodiverse people.

Table Place Settings

E also chose to work on owning the Thanksgiving table setup. He organized the tablecloth, dishes, and placement of guests. To support his cause, he created custom place cards with his own design which he printed on the laser cutter with walnut wood which he kept all natural.

Save the Trees

Although E was not excited about creating the advertisement for the Arbor Day Foundation, he did want to create a poster showing his findings from his research which he feels are persuasive. This was his end product.

Christmas Decorating

And of course, we kicked off the holiday season with a traditional Thanksgiving meal followed by Christmas decorations going up around the home. This year, E was able to decorate the trees himself. He calls this one his “creativity tree” because it makes him feel more creative when it is up and the sparking lights are creating rainbows around the room all day.