Philip, puzzle wizard

This is my student, Philip. Daily he comes to my house and we work together on social and daily living skills--mostly his :) He's an amazing person with abilities that are not apparent unless you know him well. For instance he is doing a 100 piece puzzle here that he has seen once before, maybe 2 weeks ago. He is putting it together from memory, beginning as he always does on the right side but not at the corner. He goes row by row, from the bottom to the top, right to left until he completes it. He will simply gaze at the pieces, here you see them still in a bit of a jumble, and reach for the exact piece he seeks very rarely making an error. He put together the first owl then reached for the piece above the owl's head--how did he know that was the piece? He's not looking at the picture! The tin it came in is open on the table and the photos of the finished puzzle are lying face down. It's a skill, it's a wonder, it's a real life parlor trick. I'm not explaining it well here but that's probably because he's a person not a concept and too alive with glittering fragments for me to fully describe.

He also has the filthiest pair of socks on I have ever seen! Good grief!
I think it's laundry day tomorrow :)

I apologize for being such a rotten commenter or reply-er. The new format seems to not have the prompts that triggered my politesse before. I think it's lovely that you take the time to comment and star my silly entries! Really I do and I will work hard to comment/reply promptly in the future.