Me: Why are your eggshells in the box on top of the trash? Your trash belongs in the can.
M: There was other trash on top – it looked like everybody was doing it just putting their trash on top.
Me: If everybody was jumping off a bridge, would you?
M: It depends.
Me: O_o On what?
M: On who everybody is. Who is everybody?
Me: I dunno, everybody.
E: Everybody in our family.
M: If it’s everybody in our family, then yes I would jump off the bridge too. But not if it was everybody from school.
Do you follow me? This is my autistic boy. He’s a genius (truly) and I don’t usually qualify him as “my autistic boy” in *most* cases, except ones where it jumps out at me. Like when I’m freaking out because he can’t stop moving, ever, and knocks everything over, always. But being autistic, he doesn’t always have the best sense of… common sense? Or maybe that’s just part of being a ten year old boy? But to reason that if everyone from his class is doing something it isn’t necessarily a good thing, but if everyone from his family is doing it that it is probably ok makes me smile. Not that everything that everyone in the house does is ok (ahem, like stacking garbage on top of a box on top of the trash can) but as a general rule of thumb I think it is.
Or he wants to die horribly with us while we jump off a bridge. He has a love of horror. It could go either way.
Great post. I recently had a similar experience to share. My autistic son receives pull out type services, where they are teaching him idioms and understanding the perspective of others. One that seemed to appeal to him was “… when pigs fly…” He became involved in an after school academic related Extracurricular called Science Olympiad. Students were asked to design an invention that “could save the world.” As it was an Extracurricular, I din’t pay any attention to it, just let him go for the experience. They invited parents, administrators, and the likes to the students presentation of their invention. Imagine my embarrasment when my son stood up on stage and began. “The probability of me or one of my classmates demonstrating an invention today, that will actually save the world, will happen …when pigs fly. I would like very much for one of our inventions to save the world, so my invention is a set of mechanical wings for pigs to allow them to fly. Now hopefully one of the other inventions can save the world.” He then went on to show the design and specs for the mechanical pig flying wings.” Some were viewing him as a smart-allec, others were roaring with laughter, I was for sure embarassed, but also in a wierd way proud in that he was (in his mind) honestly demonstrating a sincere desire to allow a path for others to change the world. None the less, I did quickly e-mail the pull out service provider to ensure she not only taught him the meaning of idioms, but also when it may be viewed as inappropriate to use them.
I love this!