Asperger Moment: Priceless!

[Luv Bunnies]

My 12 year old son has come such a long way with his Asperger's Syndrome. We usually forget it's even there. But once in a while, he comes up with something so black and white and matter of fact that we just have to laugh.

Yesterday morning, I was reading everyone's horoscopes in the newspaper. I read mine and then my husband's and 9 year old son's. My 12 year old asked me to read his. It started with "turn over a new leaf." He looked up from his cereal and very matter-of-factly said, "But I don't have a leaf. Am I supposed to go outside and get one?" We all started cracking up! It was such a classic Asperger moment. I explained what it means to "turn over a new leaf." He said, "Oh, so I guess what I said was pretty funny, huh?" Then he proceeded to laugh too. It was almost as good as when he was younger and I called him "sweetie pie." He got very concerned and said, "What? A Pie? I don't want to be baked!" Gotta love that kid!

Anyone else's kids come up with any classic Aspergerisms?

 

[bookwormde]

Yes but too many to count, My son DS8 has been working with his private speech therapist on idioms and other non logical structures of language for the past year.

Every couple of weeks we get a new batch. He has learned to “laugh along” as he attempts generalized application of the new ones; it has become a very fun thing for the whole family. It amazes me how quickly he learns them once they are intellectually explained. He has even learned to “recognize” unfamiliar ones from normal neurotypical conversations and to inquire as to their derivations and meaning.

bookwormde

 

[lawlesslovewdw]

You have got to love those moments dont you. We have a ds(4) who is HFASD. When visiting grandmas, he was told it was that windy he would have to be careful he didnt blow away! He then refused to go outside! Naughty grandma. We also told him prior to diagnosis that you didnt get out of bed at night except for toilet visits, he still doesnt so he just shouts for us, we have now learnt to be so careful.

 

[ecki]

My older DD is PDD-NOS. She's come a long way, too, and I usually forget about it. Sometimes those quirks still come out!

One night she was at the kitchen table complaining that her homework was so hard.

So my DH says "You know what's harder? A rock!"

Poor DD was SO confused at the (bad) joke and didn't get it even after we tried to explain it to her!

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

I don't have any kids, but one evening I was at a banquet and one of the families at the table had their Autistic son with them. He looked at my service dog's vest, which has "Service Dog" embroidered on it, and asked me if I was training her for the Secret Service! Too cute!

(Okay, I didn't realize at first how on earth he thought she was a Secret Service dog, so kept telling him that, no, she was my service dog. Then I realized he read her vest and only knew of Secret Service dogs as working dogs. So DUH on me! Once I explained handicapped service dogs to him, he understood.)

 

[scottsod]

hi

my 9yo ds has cp and apergers hes in reg ed with an aid

so the other day im picking him up after school for therapy he usualy stays late in an after school program and were going out the front of the school
and he starts talking to the crosing guard and he asks her name and tells her his name he dosnt see her that much as we drop him off at the back of school on another block were its more accessable and the crosing guard there has given us alot of troubble getting in the street in the am as there are alot of kids but this has been a problem thats been taken care of for months we show up 5 min late when the crowd is less and school is ok with it

so anyway he says to the crossing guard youre a verry nice lady not like that other brown skined guy who always gives us troubble. needless to say i was horrified the guy is african american but my son dosnt get it. hes just describing the guy they way he knows how. geez you never know what hes gona say. its nice that to him that people are just people.

 

[debbi801]

Here's one from DS's OT session on Saturday. DS is 6, just diagnosed in March, and this was his first OT appt (he had been on a waiting list since March). The therapist was trying different "calming" techniques on him, but nothing was working and he was literally bouncing off the walls. She brought out a brush and tried doing brushing. DS shrieks: "Stop doing that! Do I look like a pet? I am a human!" I just about bit my tongue off trying to not laugh.

 

[Earstou]

When my ds was 5, a new family moved in. I was talking to an old neighbor, and mentioned the new neighbor boy by name. She asked, "Is that the black boy?". That night my ds asked why she called the new neighbor boy black. I tried explaining it to him and he would have none of it. I then told him some people would say he was white. He got very upset and told me he was brown, and that everyone else was brown, just different shades of brown!
I wish everyone thought his way!

 

[mgilmer]

When my ds was 5, a new family moved in. I was talking to an old neighbor, and mentioned the new neighbor boy by name. She asked, "Is that the black boy?". That night my ds asked why she called the new neighbor boy black. I tried explaining it to him and he would have none of it. I then told him some people would say he was white. He got very upset and told me he was brown, and that everyone else was brown, just different shades of brown!
I wish everyone thought his way!

True wisdom from the mouth of your babe!

 

[BeckyScott]

My son- not the one with autism, the more "typical" one- said something like that to me, too, and he was 9! He was watching tv, the news or something, and didn't understand the word "race". He thought they were talking about a running-race, which didn't make any sense. So I was attempting to explain it to him. He has friends of different races. And he thought one of his friends just had a really good tan. (Hispanic) Bless his heart. He thought that if he just stayed out in the sun long enough, he too could be Hispanic. It was very cute. Although I was very happy that he'd gone for 9 years totally oblivious to the idea of different races, that really was a good thing.

 

[dzorn]

DD has high functioning autism. DD enjoyed a field trip with school (DH) went with her that he decided to take her for bring your Child to work day. The plan was to have me come and go out to lunch with them and then take DD home since it would be too much for all day. The night before while getting ready for bed we talked about it again explaining the long drive (45-60 min) commute and about getting up early, but she could bring her game boy for the car. She said OK but it seems like an awful long drive just to go to EPCOT for a few hours. I was like What ? She though DH was taking her to test track at EPCOT, because we always stop at the GM lounge there and rest and take the back way in for GM employees. So she thought we DH goes to work every day it was going test track at EPCOT.

Denise in MI

 

[brettgirl]

Isn't it funny when you talk with our autistic kids how literal they are, you don't realize how the english language can be twisted in so many ways until they look at you with those wondering eyes, like you are talking some other language! And then try explaining what you really mean.............

 

[modomo]

Our DS(10) with Asperger's is in 4th grade (mainstream classroom). Recently, a girl in his class asked him if he wanted to "go out"? (Okay FYI, not that I really think 10year olds have any business dating, I was just estatic with thoughts of social opportunities like conversations that don't include WWI, starwars or video games , or that he may use the telephone.)
But, instead he tells her, "I think your nice, but we're just too young for going out!" After sharing this with me, he say's "Mom, we can't go out, we can't even drive!" Literal thinking strikes again.
I explained to him she only wanted to be his girlfriend, "Oh", and he preceeded to school the next day to let her know it was now Okay to "Go Out", but she already moved on! Oh, those 4th grade girls!!!

I cherish those "aspie moments". I don't know if this happens with any other aperger's, but our son does not lie. Of course, at times he says things that are inappropriate because of his honesty, but his intentions are pure. He also doesn't see the color of people's skin. We should all take a few lessons from our precious Aspies!

 

[bookwormde]

I can see my DS 8 Aspergers doing the same thing in a couple of years, of course right now he is considering the state of the earth in 1 billion year and the tectonic and evolutionally changes that would be likely (has drawn a future “globe” in great detail.
You never know what is next.

bookwormde

 

[SueM in MN]

My nephew has Aspergers and he got in trouble at school once because he would not write anything at all for an essay that the class was assigned to write.
The subject was "What I would do if I were President". He would not write anything at all and his teacher said he was being "willfully disobedient".
He explained to his mom that he couldn't write anything because he didn't plan on being president so the question didn't apply to him (which was perfectly clear if you are thinking in a very literal sense, but did sound willfully disobedient to someone who was not thinking that way). His mom tried explaining that none of the other kids planned on being President either, but had been able to answer the question. He just could not get his head around how they could answer the question.

 

[BeckyScott]

One thing we've had to be very careful about-- I know all kids do this to a certain extent-- but DS will repeat things he's heard us say, without thinking about their appropriateness.

The kids had gotten into an argument (which is a daily occurance) and Justin was on the computer playing some game but according to Richard he wasn't playing it the "right" way. So he was all in Justin's face telling him how to do it, and Justin was yelling for him to go away. When I intervened, I told Richard to "don't worry about it, let it go" and at one point even did that 'speak to the wrist' move. Just leave your brother alone, if he wants to play the game wrong who cares, don't worry about it, let it go.

A couple of days later Justin was in Art Class and the teacher gave him some project that he didn't want to do. You can guess what happened. "Don't worry about it, let it go" complete with wrist. That went over really well.

 

[tink fan]

Here's mine.

My 10 year old plays baseball, usually the outfield. My husband helps coach. Anyway my son was out on the field one game, when all of the sudden in the middle of the inning he came into the dugout and said hi to my husband. My husband immediately send him back out to the field. Later he asked him why he left the field and he said the other coach yelled at him to "come in." My husband realized that the coach was talking about playing in closer to the infield! He never thought to tell my son about that particular expression and what it really means.

Unfortunately my son is old enough to start understanding that these are mistakes and he is very hard on himself about them. He obsesses over them when he is trying to fall asleep and I have heard him cry often.

 

[ecki]

I just saw a wonderful little movie on DVD called Mozart and the Whale. It's a love story between two Aspies. It was really well done and they did a great job with the language (although I got a little annoyed with the characters always saying "I take everything literally." Yes, we know already!!) and the body language (fleeting eye contact, weird hand things, etc.) and the sensory stuff. It was funny because the guy is one of those number obsessed Aspies and as he was looking at the numbers go by on the microwave he kept commenting on them. My older DD does that. If she sees 2:46 on the clock she'll say "look! two plus four equal six!" It was so weird seeing this in a movie because I didn't think anyone else in the world did that!

 

[Piper]

I just experienced an "Aspie moment" in my class today. Our principal bought caps and gowns this year for Pre-K graduation. I put a clip-art picture of a boy and a girl in a cap and gown on that special day on the calendar. One of my students asked why that boy was wearing a dress.

I got out a gown and cap and did a mini-lesson on graduation--that it was a gown not a dress and the hat was called a cap. I went on to say that you could only wear a cap and gown at your graduation. I told them when they graduated from high school or college they would wear a cap and gown, too.

I heard a little voice say, "No-o-o-o, I don't think so." It was my Aspie student. I asked him why and he said, "Because it won't fit. I'm going to grow!" I had to explain that I wasn't talking about the same cap and gown....he would get a different one that was the right size when he graduated from high school or college.

 

[mechurchlady]

I vaguely remember the numbers games like 3579 are all odds, 2468 are all even. I do not automatically do that but still people do look at numbers and see symbolism such as adding up to a sum, sequences, all odd or even, and being in reverse order. It is weird when you see something others do not.

I have to see that movie, sounds interesting.