How do I be God?

I have to say that I was in shock at what had happened to David. He went from a gifted and talented, albeit autistic, child to one who simply could not retain anything that was taught to him.

David, do you know what 6 + 7 is?

Uh, no.

I tried using counters so that he could see how they could be manipulated so that visually 6 + 7 would be 13. After I the manipulation, I said,

See, it's 13.

Oh.

Thirty seconds later I asked him again,

What's 6 + 7?

I don't know!

And David cried. At the time, David would have to be very emotional before he would say anything more than a few words. This was more than he could bear.

Dad, how do I go back?

How do you go back where David?

How do I go back to being a baby?

At that point I knew that David understood that he had lost something and I wanted to cry with him, not only for what he had lost, but because I was afraid that this was only the start. Something had bitten off a piece of what had been David and I was afraid that that shark was still lurking in the water.

You can't go back, David.

I have to!

You can't and I can't do that for you.

Who can?!

Only God can, David.

How do I be God?

You can't be God, David. Only God is God.

The arithmetic lesson was over and for the next two hours, I learned the meaning of the word perseverative. David's math abilities were gone and replaced with perseverative behavior.