Presenting a gallery of artwork by Tyler Szymonik. My son Tyler is 12 years old and has profound autism. His speaking skills are very limited. When you first meet him, you might think that not much is going through his thoughts. But he often drops us hints that he really is ‘in there’. He has often reminded me of the tiger in the ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ cartoon. To the rest of the world, Hobbes the tiger is a stuffed animal. Blank expression, unseeing eyes, cuddly but devoid of thought. But when he and his boy Calvin are alone, Hobbes comes to life with wit, a sense of humor, and the capacity to misbehave in sometimed clever ways! Thus it is with Tyler.
Recently, he gave us an interesting glimpse of what is going on in his mind. Of what he likes and finds interesting. It came in the form of several pictures he apparently drew in Microsoft Paint on the computer, and saved to a file. Being Tyler, he never pointed them out to me or his dad. We would probably never have known they existed if he had not set a few of them up as screen savers. One day I walked into the office and there they were, silently passing by on the screen. We were delighted at these little snapshots of what is in his head, and investigated further. There were more. LOTS more. I submit them here for you to peruse. I hope you enjoy them. Cindy