ciphergoth | Jan. 13th, 2006

Alex Biescar is a good example. Even at the age of three he hadn't uttered a single word, not even mama or dada. Then one day he happened to be at his speech pathologist's office, waiting in the reception area. A whirring floor fan caught his attention, and since Alex shares a common Williams fascination with spinning things, he approached the fan and began staring at it. Concerned that he might stick his fingers into the fan, the receptionist switched it off. Alex switched it back on. She unplugged it. Alex plugged it back in. Next she switched it off and unplugged it. Alex solved this problem as well. Just then, however, there was a power failure. Alex flipped the fan's switch a couple of times and nothing happened. He wiggled the plug and nothing happened. Frustrated, he uttered the first words of his life: "Jesus Christ, this doesn't work!"

-- Different Minds, Discover magazine, June 1991. (propogated from