It's-a me, Mario!

Super Mario has been an off and on interest for E since he was about 4.5. It all started when he picked up this book at the library:

We read it over and over and over again, renewing it several times in the fall of 2019. He was so into the characters, they often featured in his creations. For instance, he made a beeswax Luigi for our Christmas advent candle display, and made both Super Mario brothers out of m&ms!

He knew my husband is a fan of Nintendo as well, so he wrote Mario words in his Valentine's Day card in 2020 (interestingly, this was also an example of PDA equalizing behaviour because E knew full well what is generally expected to be written in a card, but to be able to participate at all in the card giving tradition - he had picked the card out and was very excited to give it to Daddy - he had to write an unconventional message).

We had added the characters to our "word wall" at the time; a beloved part of my classroom environment that I recreated for E at home (he was into it for a little while, but, like our beautiful number line, it was ripped down when E was dysregulated one day and that was the end of that).

He and my husband printed off a stack of Mario colouring pages at work, and E compiled them into a book.

His Mario sweater was the only piece of outerwear he could tolerate for most of that winter, and, in his era of only wearing pajamas during the same period, his Mario pajama top was in steady rotation.

He was also delighted to find a Super Mario display as part of our city's Christmas light celebration, a slice of familiarity in an otherwise overwhelming outing.

As you can see, Mario was a big deal for a long time (and he had never actually played any of the games!). The stories and characters formed the basis of many early literacy experiences, they deepened the connection between him and his dad, spurred his imagination, allowed him to access clothing, and gave him a familiar connection in the outside world.

Then, like his deep interests in Star Wars and Lego, Mario took a back seat to Minecraft after he turned about 6. And that's ok. Interests come and go.

A few months ago, however, my husband found his old Nintendo DS, which both he and E have been enjoying greatly ever since. And so the love of all things Nintendo has been rekindled, this time from the perspective of an older child who is actually playing the video games. He's played Mario Maker, all the Wooly World games, Toad Treasure Tracker, New Super Mario Bros, and probably more that I can't remember. Mario Maker is the one I have had the most interaction with since he has made 24 levels for me to play (with varying levels of success on my part!). He does like to show me the other games from time to time, and regale me with stories of every boss he fought the night before, etc., but for the most part he plays solo (which, honestly, is a bit of a relief for me after years of my coregulatory presence on the other computer in his bedroom playing video games with him for several years. Being able to engage with the DS alone is a big step forward for him).

And, like before, his rekindled interest has spread to other parts of his life. For example, he is an excellent mimic and after playing so many Mario games for a while, he has the Mario voice and video game sound effects down pat. So, to move his body and give himself the proprioceptive and vestibular input he needs, while also stimming verbally, he jumps around the house playing imaginary Mario levels, complete with sound and movement.

This week, he also happened to dig out our Perler beads from the back of a cupboard. He is very detail oriented, focused, has a good eye for colour and design, so Perler beads have always been a good fit for him as a creative outlet (they also can be fiddly and frustration-inducing, resulting in dysregulated children hurling half-finished creations of un-fused beads all over the floor, but this time around that hasn't happened... yet!). "It's just so satisfying to see them melt together and see the finished product!" says E proudly.

Not surprisingly, he was inspired to make a Mario creation with the Perler beads this time and asked me to look up a picture for him to copy. I showed him how to get to the web browser on his tablet, where and how to enter the search words he wanted to use, how to select the tab for image search, and how to expand the one he wanted and zoom in if needed. I only had to show him once and he was off. He discovered a whole world of Super Mario Perler bead patterns to choose from and spent hours over the last few days creating piece after piece, coming back many times to the kitchen table to make more in between other activities, deciding to create his own images from scratch if the pattern he liked wasn't quite right. Here's a selection of some of his favourites so far:

E has used so many beads we were almost out of some colours, so he and my husband researched the best place to buy more. He was very excited to tell me that they had price checked a few places online and we had to go to Hobby Lobby to buy more. We actually have been back to Hobby Lobby (and Michael's!) not one, not two, but three times this week. Leaving the house at all can at times be difficult for E, so any time he suggests an outing I do my best to make it happen (even to the same place three times in one week!). An errand like going to the craft store means social interactions, discussions of money and budgeting, modeling how to make a purchase, car ride discussions, noticing road signs and store names and other environmental print, as well navigating all the demands of leaving the home and everything that entails. E's special interests are not just random things he enjoys, they are the key to how he accesses the world, and thus they are the key to his learning.

A particular monotropic focus might last days, weeks, or even years. However long it may be, it becomes all encompassing. Leaning into his special interests by supporting, sharing and extending his passions has become an integral part of how I facilitate E's learning. I could roll my eyes and think how ridiculous an interest in a commercial pop culture icon is, especially since it was not previously an interest of mine, but, instead, like Minecraft, as I have come to learn more about Mario in all its forms I have gained an appreciation for how meaningful and inspiring it all is for E. It may not be MY special interest, but Nintendo has immense value to E's life and learning nonetheless.

One library book checked out three and half years ago has led to a years' long fascination with this topic. I need to pick up some holds of my own this week and I already plan on looking for the Super Mario Adventures comic to check out from our library again. And this time he will able to read it to himself!

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