Why Does Maria_Zim, who has Autism, Relate to Invader Zim?

I have watched Maria_Zim obsess over this little alien. I have sat with her and seen every episode over and over again. Watching Maria_Zim watching Invader Zim has been very telling. I have come to understand why she has latched on to this character. I would like to share with you my understanding.

It begins with Invader Zim Episode I. Zim's first challenge on his first day of school was to look and act human. He sat at his desk and as he was being introduced to the class he worried greatly that others would see his differences. One student did. Dib, pointed out to the class that Zim was green and had no ears! Zim convinced the class that he had a skin condition. There was no hiding the fact from Dib. To Dib, Zim was different, an alien. Zim placed his finger against the self distruct butten that wrapped around his wrist. He invisioned humans placing him in a test tube as they danced around him. Finally, students said, "So what if he is different. He's just a kid with a skin condition." It had worked. With his differences, Zim had placed himself with humans. Maria_Zim understands that between her world and the typical world, there are differences too. "Mother's Intuition" and understanding autism tells me that Maria_Zim's world is narrow in site, concrete, discriptive and sensory hypotonic. Her narrow sitedness (literally speaking) prevents her from the whole picture. She misses out on social clues and fumbles. She understands concrete because it doesn't change. It is what it is. It stands alone and it can be catagorized. Maria_Zim's nerve endings are hypotonic, they feel numb to her. She senses the world differently than we do. Living with typical humans, she notices that we are comfortable in our skin and that we have a certain way of interacting with eachother. She is also aware of her challenges. Although Maria_Zim seems to hear, understand and process her thoughts; her mind is unable to process her thoughts into the spoken word. Somehthing jams up in her brain causing her to say an irrelavant word like "Corn". Because of this occurence, she chooses to say nothing at all.  Maria_Zim has generalization challenges. How many steps are there in brushing your teeth? Think about it. 1)Pick up the tooth paste. 2)untwist the cap 3)put the cap down... and so on. Eventually, you will do this enough to where your brain will do it automatically with out thinking about it. In Maria_Zim's case, these steps are new to her every time. It takes a long time for her brain to generalize a skill. Now, how about following steps. Can you count to 10? Can you count 10 items up to ten? Maria_Zim's one to one correspondence has also been a challenge to her. Maria_Zim can only concretely count up to three. Three cookies, three letters and three steps. Can you imagine her challenges when it comes to reading, writing, and math now?

After learning more about Maria_Zim, is it no wonder that her many challenges and her differences on how she sees the world has her relating with this little alien cartoon named Zim. When she repeats Zim, "Humans!" does she concur? Does she see us as a different species all together? So much to ponder. Meanwhile, join us daily as we twitter and YouTube the many aspects of what is Invader Zim.

For a clip of Invader Zim Episode I.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx9dzdI9xGM

Thank you to MissEvee138 for posting on YouTube.

Who is Invader Zim?

Invader Zim is a small alien creature from the planet Irk. Determined to prove his worth as an invader, he mistakenly takes over his own planet. His leaders "The Tallest", devise a plan to rid themselves of Zim by sending him to invade a far away planet called Earth. With not much invested in Zim, they pare him up with Gir, a makeshift droid made from garbage scraps. Together, they set out to invade planet Earth and destroy it. Along the way, Invader Zim's plans fail due to his own mistakes and Gir's inattention to such matters.  Zim's plans are also thwarted by Dib, the only human on Earth that recognizes Zim as an alien attempting to destroy the Earth. This Imaginative cartoon was created by Jhonen Vaquez who contracted with Nickelodeon to air 25 episodes. Unfortunately, the relationship between the two dissolved before all of the Invader Zim episodes could be shown. I don't believe that Nickelodeon was ready to have Invader Zim as one of their featured characters standing next to SpongeBob. Zim is a determined little Alien that finds Earthlings to be repulsive and rightly so, should all be Doomed. SpongeBob enjoys blowing bubbles... and sings FUN songs. After pulling Zim off the air, Nick then decided to air the show on Nicktoons. Eventually, Invader Zim was phased out leaving cult like followers to purchase the DVD. The Invader Zim DVD has been highly successful. You can also find Invader Zim merchandise in Hot Topics or on the internet. Nickelodeon owns all copy rights to Invader Zim. Jhonen Vaquez receives no royalties to any Invader Zim DVD or merchandise sales. Invader Zim does not belong to me or Maria_Zim. We are just fans that love to role-play him on twitter for the motivational purpose to develop Maria_Zim's reading, writing, and typing skills. (Invader Zim Information was pulled from Wikiepedia.com)

Invader Zim Episode I:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S28LQYiJqO&feature=related
Thanks to MissEvee138 for posting on YouTube.

Maria_Zim As Invador_Zim

It all began Saturday night. As an addicted Twitterer, I decided to Twitter about my daughter's highlights of the day. I began a new Twitter and named it Invador_Zim after Maria's favorite cartoon character. Maria_Zim became very involved once she saw the Invador Zim Avatar on the page. We began to roleplay together.

Maria_Zim is 14 years of age and has Autism.  She is loving, and very funny.  She is capable of verbalizing her needs and wants but finds it very difficult to speak more than two words.  She is very expressive and I know that all the words are in her head but, her brain seems to fumble when she wants to speak those words. Maria_Zim's challenges with handcoordination and one to one correspondence have not as of this time allowed her to learn how to read and write.  However: I reapeat, Maria_Zim's mind has a lot to say to us.  I will write for her.  I will do my best to be true to her words. Ofcourse, most of the time I am putting words in her mouth but, I can tell if she agrees with them.  If she laughs, smiles, or shakes her head yes I continue with the thought.  If she looks down with a frown, becomes disinterested, or points at the computer with frustration, I will know that I'm off track. 

When Maria_Zim writes, she will be Invador_Zim and many other characters. Invador_Zim's comments about daily life will relfect her true life.  I will write for Invador_Zim as the Earthling. Believe me, I am truely under her control.  She lets me know when to write and as I explained above, she has as much control as possible as to the content.  Know that she loves this.  It is highly entertaining to her. Has her mom, I see the potential.  My hope is that she will learn to read and type one day.  What a way to introduce it to her right? It's definitly a win win for all of us.

Please follow www.Twitter.com/@Invador_Zim and enjoy!  Our goal is to reach as many people as possible so please retweet as much as you can.  Thank you for your support.