We have communication......sort of.....

Ben has always had the ability to communicate with us. This is not something that comes easy for children with Autism. I never thought about what it would be like if you couldn't say what you wanted....until my son started to struggle with that very thing. He could say what he wanted, but sometimes it would take a long time. His second grade teacher told me she timed it once. He raised his hand because he knew the answer, she looked at the clock. A full minute went by before he uttered his first word. Try that sometime. Seriously, tell someone you have something to say then just sit there and stare into space for a full minute before you tell them. I can't do it. I have been known to just guess what Ben wanted to say because his silence after, "Mom....." would drive me crazy. He has been known to say, "Mom?" then when I can't take it anymore I say "What Ben?! What did you want?"  and he says "I didn't say anything....." It used to drive me crazy. When he would ask for something at a dinner he would say, "Could I please have the......." and stare into space. I started filling in things, but me being me it was always something ridiculous like, "Lama? Turtle soup? Hamster nuggets?" He would laugh and then try again. If his sister did it he would just get mad. He doesn't do this anymore, in fact when he had been off his medicines for a while he commented on how easy it was for him to talk. Then after a month of Benedryll for his allergies, he was the one to point out his speech was stalling again. I am glad he knows now what was happening to him.
     Copying speech is something that some autistic children will do. There is a fancy name for this, that escapes me at the moment....it's okay because I wouldn't be able to spell it anyway.....So it works like this, you say "How are you?" and they say "How are you?"  Some autistic children will memorize entire movie dialogs and repeat this as their communication. Ben never did this, however he did copy what he was hearing. I just didn't realize I was living with a human tape recorder. I just thought he was really really funny. I still think he is funny. He has great comic timing and for the most part knows when to drop that bombshell line that will bring you to your knees with laughter.
     My neighbor is famous for teaching kids to ride their bikes. When all other attempts have failed you just knock on her door and she will fix it. She had my daughter riding in less than ten minutes when I had tried for days. So we sent Ben to her bike bootcamp. He fell off his bike and proclaimed, "I am never getting back on that thing! It is a screaming metal death trap!"
I thought this was the funniest thing I had ever heard....and a little sad, but really really funny. My son stole this line, it was not his. He heard it on Fairly OddParents. Apparently Timmy Turner decided his bike was a screaming metal death trap. I have to admit I was a little disapointed when I found out this wasn't a Benism. (as I am calling them now) But he did use the line in the perfect context so he gets points for that.
     His favorite person to steal humor from is his big sister. She is hysterical, and he lays in wait for her to say something clever then says it to us before she can. It drives her batty.
I tell her it is a form of flattery, that he loves her so much he wants to be just like her.....there is that stalker quality coming out again....
     He does come up with funny things all on his own now, and back when he was heavily medicated, his most recent being the "Nipple Family Reunion."
     He has a very sophisticated sense of humor. His kindergarten teacher mentioned that to me. She had made a side comment to one of the other teachers and the only kid to notice was my son. He laughed. The joke went way over the other children's head.
     That is my boy. He is clever and funny and odd. He is such a delight, and most adults who meet him comment on that. In my family people see him in varying degrees of silly, but I want to share all the wonderful things about him with my Granny, however she recently went completely deaf. This means we write everything to her. This was a problem for Ben, who couldn't write very well. Not too long ago we were visiting my Granny and Mom and my son took up one of the white boards and wrote Granny a note. She responded to him and they started a short but very sweet conversation about his school. It was a normal Granny, Grandson conversation....I get chills just thinking about it. This would not have been possible six months ago. He just wouldn't have even tried. I know it meant a lot to my Granny, and it meant the world to me. He communicated with my Granny. Best day ever.