Autism Moms and Dads! Let's Share Stories About Our Kids!

[IncredibleMom]

On another thread, some of us got on the topic of funny little things our kids have in common, "My 6yo Son's fixated on the planning video" (How do I make a link to that?)

I loved hearing about everyone's personal experiences and I thought the topic deserved it's own thread!

Give us your best obsessions, objects of attachment, clever or obnoxious echolalias, television shows, etc.

I'll copy my post to start:

Ha ha! My son (PDD-NOS) refers to the actors on the video by name as if they're old friends.."Where Dave going?" and "I got do that like Luke at Disney World!"

My DD (almost)7 (HFA) has just started recognizing 'echolalia' and refering to it as just that. We were watching the Original Toy Story today and she started laughing at one of 'her old phrases' saying "I used to say that all the time when I was 4 years old" It's has gotten soooo cute how she so openly talks about stimming, echolalia, and being autistic.

As long as I'm refering to this, I've got to share a favorite echolalia story:

On Thanksgiving, when she was 4, Kamryn wanted to go outside and my Dad told her it was too cold. She came back inside and slammed the door, looked at me and said "HE'S LYING! WHATEVER HE SAYS ITS NOT TRUE!" (Sid, Toy Story 1) When most little girls would have been punished for talking back like that, we all fell over laughing! GOOD WORDS, KAMRYN!
(In fact, that's how she learned pragmatic speech - adaptive echolalia, I call it!... and all of those "professionals" told me to take away her videos and not allow her to repeat phrases!)

[By the way, this is especially interesting to me because I'm now back in school (following 3 year hiatus to juggle therapy sessions, etc...but, I wouldn't be so inspired/driven if my kids weren't who they are) I'm doing a double major in Biology and Psychology and developing theories on Autism and Sensory Integration Disorders that I hope will, one day, help all of our kids!]

IncredibleMom

 

[Jotash]

adaptive echolalia, I call it!... and all of those "professionals" told me to take away her videos and not allow her to repeat phrases!)

I love that!!!

My DS (Age 5, PDD-NOS) drives us crazy with constant Elmo, Clifford, Kipper and Wiggles dialogue, but he does adapt it to his situations. Instead of "1, 2, 3. Wake up, Jeff," from the Wiggles it's "1, 2, 3. Wake up, Daddy (or Mommy, or one of our dogs or whoever is sleeping.) The funniest thing is when he says something that is appropriate, but we still know he's quoting a movie because he usually tries to sound like whatever character he's quoting (i.e., Australian accent for the Wiggles, English for Kipper.) We literally are surprised and amused all the time, but just encourage him when he is appropriate.

From now on, when someone asks why he's doing that I'm going to tell them it's adaptive echolalia!!!

 

[Earstou]

My ds used to headbutt people! He would come up behind them at a run, lower his head and ram them. Most embarassing!!!
He did it to my cousin at her wedding while she was standing on the dance floor getting ready to throw her bouquet.
The last time he headbutted was to our minister. This time he did it from the front, and our minister was a short man, so use your imagination as to where that ended up!!!

 

[IncredibleMom]

Earstou:
My daughter headbutts, too! She is ordinarilly a really REALLY sweet little angel (one of her obsessions is following "The Rules"), but when she gets upset and her little impulsive side takes over she comes charging like a little ram! She does it as if to say "I know I can't hit or kick or scream, but I'm really upset and this is the best I can come up with, so, dun dun dun dun du da! CHARGE!"

Jotash:
She was a Teletubbie-Head so we also spoke with an English accent, too. It was really funny to be at the bakery counter at the grocery store and she'd come out with "Mummy, I like buscuits and cake", and the worker asking "Oh, how cute, where is she from?"

IncredibleMom

 

[Tissa]

That's so cute I wish Brandon did this but he doesn't speak in complete sentences and what he does say only I can understand.

 

[Poohgirl]

My DS7 is high functioning he didnt speak until he was almost 3. Hearing your stories I remember going through the headbutting phase, the "use your words phase" when he was so frustrated he was about to explode, and usually did! The repeating phrases over, and over and over. BUT those were all little steps leading to good things. Now sometimes you can't get him to be quiet. He sounds like a 40 year old professor in a mini me body...He comes out with these..."Did you know butterflies actually do not hatch out of cocoon they hatch from a chrysalis?" ok, a few minutes later comes this doozie "Mom, could you explain to me, if tectonic plates shift, how does that cause a volcano to erupt?" He's been reading the encyclopedia again... Ask him if he wants to have a play date and he will crawl under his bed! OK so here is a good one from Disney. He LOVES thrill rides. We went on the boat ride in Norway cause I thought it would be cute. He was content the entire ride, we go to exit, he steps off onto the landing and screams in his loudest 7 year old voice "Well that SUCKED" I guess it was not up to his ride standard horrified....

 

[Earstou]

I'm surprised others have/had to deal with headbutting, too. I'd never heard of this before my ds did it!
He also used to growl at people. If he started the interaction, he would answer back when people talked to him. If they started the interaction, he would only growl!
!

 

[3kidsmommy]

My 7yo ds with autism, mental retardation, and adhd (although I still say the hyper part is just the autism!) has a few favorite oddities I can share: 1. EVERYTIME we step foot into the van we get the parroting of "Buckle up for safety!" over and over until we do it. Now, mind you, the van isn't even turned on when he starts his rants. I can thank Blue's Clues for that one, I think. 2. Chandler loves to sing and easily remembers the words to songs. He loves Jimmy Buffet and the Grateful Dead (yes, I admit it--I am a deadhead) and on one particular song on a CD Jerry Garcia did entitled "not just for kids" there is the "Ain't No Bugs on Me" song. Chandler loudly sings this song perfectly. Makes for great entertainment when guests come over. They just can't act like they are watching him. 3. Stimming...mouth noises seem to be his favorite at the moment...LOUD mouth noises. 4. Rubbing his head on the floor...anyone had their kid try to be a human sweeper? He USED to do the headbanging, then switched to this... and finally...5. When he was 5, he went through a phase where he pulled out his hair. He was bald on top with longer hair on the sides--kinda that little old man look! Ended up cutting his hair so short he couldn't grab it to pull.
As to the OP's echolalia statement--I LOVE IT! Chandler has always done the same thing...taking things he has heard and eventually using them in the proper context to a situation we are in. His special ed teacher once said how she was amazed by something he had said--until I explained he had heard it on Blue's Clue's and produced the video to prove it! lol...
Aren't our kids cute?

 

[karynnix]

I can't believe all of the head-butting!! My son did that in kindergarten and I never thought anything else about it. He started by head-butting his teacher in the rear. Boy...was she surprised!

I wonder why it is that Blue's Clues is such a fascination. Jack is 7 1/2 and he still watches it every day. He was heartbroken when Steve went to college. I started classes at the local community college (incidently to study psychology and autism, also!!) a few weeks ago, and the morning of my first class, Jack said, "I'll see you next year!" I don't think that I have him convinced yet that I'm not going anywhere! It makes me happy that there is a show like Blue's Clues for them to watch. Very educational.

 

[landmark]

Another head butter here. Sometimes they come disguised as hugs. We were so happy when he started spontaneously hugging but now they are more like full body slams. (read: full speed from across the room) I told him "I love it that you are hugging mommy... but could you hug softer?"

DS memorized the School House Rock DVDs last year. The teacher asked me if I was teaching him multiplication it took me a week to figure out where he got it... we were driving in the car and all of a sudden he says: "Mr. Morton is the subject of the sentence and what the predicate says... he does." Viola.

Lately his favorite line is from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and is lovely in public but he will suddenly yell out. "Mumbler!" For those that have seen the movie you'll understand

I think the most funny thing DS has said recently is at christmas when he opened up the pair of pants I got him (horrors!) he says: "I have no emotion for that present." Then tosses them to the side. My parents are still rolling. It's become a family classic.

Anyone else having fun with body functions? DS is 7 and we are having fun trying to teach body functions ethic. Couple of weeks ago he burps this HUGE burp at a restaurant table and I said "Austin! What do you say?" Mortified though not surprised and he announces... "Good one!"

I'm enjoying reading the other stories.

 

[MN Dis Fans]

I love this thread!
When my DS10 was in first grade, the class was asked to make illustrated timelines. He created a timeline of his obsessions.
"First it was trains. Next it was Indiana Jones. Now its Titanic." The school district's autism specialist still uses a copy of it for workshops. Since then we've lived through Yu-Gi-oh (thank goodness that is over with) Star Wars and now Runescape.

When he was 3, I was mortified when his daycare mom told me he called the other kids "idiot." That night at home the light bulb came on as we watched 101 Dalmations for the bazillionth time. Everybody in that movie says idiot! About that time he also told his little brother, "Be gone with you!" Not sure where he heard that phrase.

 

[PrincessPatty]

These stories are so wonderful to hear. Just recently I am doing my internship in an Autism school. I am so nervous to be working here and I havent had much interaction with the kiddos (2 days) but I am so excited to be working here!! Hopefully I can learn a lot from all of you, thanks!

 

[DebIreland]

I posted this on another thread about my son. I still get a great laugh out of this incident when I think back.

My eldest son who is now 11 was diagnosed with autism when he was 3. He is doing great now thankfully and, bar some occasional language quirks (which are incidentally adorable) and some anxieties re: changes in his life he is coping very well with life and is in mainstream school. He didn't talk until he was 4 except for the constant repitition of phrases he learnt from movies (echolalia) so when, after intensive behavioural therapy, he did start to talk spontaneously and with intent you can imagine our joy. So, along with his lack of desire to communicate he also had some minor (well, I consider them minor!) speech issues which are common, the most obvious one being the replacement of 'f' with a 'b' so, for example, he'd say "brog" instead of "frog". No sweat! So one day, I was walking him to town (a difficult task as he used to stop to lick cars, he had severe tantrums, screamed, became distressed etc.) and we were walking near the river which runs through our city and he pointed and said "BISH, BISH, MOMMY, MOMMY, BISH, BISH" meaning "FISH, FISH, MOMMY, MOMMY [look at the] FISH" - well my heart swelled with pride. My boy LOOKED at me, spoke to me, conversed with me. When he saw the joy on my face, he kept it up and the whole way through town he proudly shouted at the top of his lungs "MOMMY BISH", "MOMMY BISH" - we got quite a few horrified stares as people wondered why I not only didn't scold him but actually praised my son's "name-calling" - one old lady actually stopped and made the sign of the cross on herself and said something like "well my God, I've heard it all, a little boy calling his mother a b**ch, may God forgive ya". All I could do was laugh!!!!!

 

[kdtwiss]

Well, one of my son's real strengths (and weaknesses) is his memory. He forgets nothing.
Once about a year ago we were looking at pictures , which he loves to do, and we came across one of him at about 18 -20 months. He was on a big plastic slide and you could see very few thiings other than him and the slide. I said Keannor - where is that? "DZ" he says laughing.
It took me a few minutes to look carefully at it to see it was indeed Discovery Zone, which closed when ds was about 2. We have gone and continue to go to many indoor playgrounds, so it was not as if that was the only one he had ever been to, but the second he looked at that photo he knew it was DZ. Amazing to me!

 

[cabowser]

My son Charlie is nearly six and he had some challenges right from the start. Our house burned half way down and we foolishly lived in it while it was being rebuilt and I became pregnant at the same time and I became lead poisoned. Lead is released in creosote, which come from burning. So lead poisoning in the first trimester is not good.

Then Charlie was born after 7 hours of induced labor in which the dr did not tell me that he had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. His body was white and his head was purple. He had been in distress for days and I didn't know it.

Don't even get me started on the shots... let's just say he doesn't need to get any more to get his lifetime dose of mercury.

He was absolutely 100% silent as the grave except for crying and grunting until he was 3 and a half. He had been in therapy since he was 18 months old. Severely terribly autistic. Then something happened. I have to tell you what happened.

One day we were driving home from K-mart, which is about an hour from our house and CHarlie had been crying and screaming for the whole time. I prayed in my mind, please Lord help me stop him from crying or I am going to KILL this child! I was really on the edge. Well that night at bathtime Jon, Charlie's older brother, was sticking out his tongue, I was sticking out mine and Charlie tried to, but wouldn't.

Then in bouncing on the bed I somehow got a clear look at him as he was UPSIDE down and saw that he was completely tongue tied!!!

I made everyone stick out their tongues, I looked at him again and again. I looked it up on line, and sure enough he was tongue tied!

He had three speech pathologists, two dentists (that amazes me) and a pediatrician and NO one, including his mother (me) who had been an orthodontic assistant for 10 years had spotted it until then!

Within two weeks we had surgery to fix it. That day, for the first time ever, he bit into his pizza instead of scraping the toppings off with his tongue!

He began talking, it took 6 months and then he said, "More". Then "Open", and then it started. Now he can really talk, but most people can't understand when I say, he can talk, but he can't converse.

But I thank god that he can tell me when he is hurt now, and where. He can tell me what he wants to eat.

He will be 6 in two months and is in a regular preschool program at our local public school, set to enter kindergarten in the fall. He has a full time wraparound TSS who attends with him.

He is a great kid and is now sleeping through the night -- thank goodness for melatonin!

Jan

 

[Brightsy]

My younger son, Vinny, is a little over 4. He was diagnosed almost 2 years, he's HF. When diagnosed he had less than 10 recognizable words and no two word combos at all. NOW he's got over 200 words and is beginning to speak in complete sentences and is actually starting to use personal pronouns once in a while! *mom swelling with pride and joy*
Anyways, we'v had some fun language quirks, too.
Like t'other day I asked him "Who are you?" and he said "This is me." And pointed at himself. I coulda burst.
He also says "Bish" for fish, and po-sicko instead of popsicle. Movie is "oovie" and so on. BUT when it comes to his Mickey DVD he's says Mick Mouse quite clearly...and when he wants his Cirque Du Soleil dvds he's quite clear too. He askes for those by name. "La Nouba" and "VArekai" are his favorites. (Those also happen to be the 2 shows he's seen live.)
I took him and his older brother (6 yrs. old ADHD) to see Varekai just a couple days ago! Oh it was magical!!!
First we had a moment at the pre-show where one of the performers came over to us (Vinny and Sammy were waving and yelling "HI" quite enthusiastically." She took a feather duster out of a pocket and dusted our knees and my face. Then Vinny jumped out his chair and lunged at her. She caught him and gave him a big ol' hug and Vinny, I swear, said "I wuvooo!"
During the show his favorite act came on and he jumped up and yelled "There they areeeee!!!" He then clapped wildly and cheered through their whole bit. Throughout the show (which he has memorized thanks to DVD) he sang and even pantomimed certain parts. It was quite amazing to watch the little guy. And apparently he caught the eye of the musicians in the show. One of them winked at us as he wandered by. And one of the ushers told me as we were leaving that watching Vinny was about as fun as the show!
OTOH there was Sammy, my usually extremely fidgety ADHD kid. He sat almost riveted through the whole thing. He occasionally grabbed my arm and snuggled me or jumped and clapped, but for the most part he was enthralled. He's only like that at the live shows.
*Sigh* I love my guys.

Sara

 

[larklynn]

My ds5 is currently labeled sid but he is veryyyyyyyy socially delayed and they are on the fence about asp. syn. Well I took him to ds11 challenger league baseball game(older son has cp/encephlopathy) We sitting by one of their friends gm's who is raising him. The friends mother and other gm were their first time we had met them.DS5 kept insisting that the gm we hadn't met was Timmy's grandfather. I was so emabarrassed he just got louder and louder. I finally had to whisper him to hush. We went home and I told my husband who could not stop laughing (of course he didn't have to sit through it)

 

[D'AngelosdoDisney]

My son soon to be 7 knows every line and every move from all of the star wars movies. He will stand in front of the tv and when they walk, he walks, when they take off their robes, he does, when they speak, he speaks. Now that he got the originally three for xmas, he has added Darth Veder to his character list. He also got one of those ultimate life sabers and changes them for the characters he is acting out on that given moment. My husband says that we should burn the suit.

 

[missypie]

This isn't about my own child, but it's still a wild story. In a prior life, I taught deaf kids. I student taught at a state school for the deaf. They were always trying to get the student teachers to chaperone varous events (free labor) and one Saturday morning I chaperoned a bus full of little deaf kids on a trip to the circus. It was my last semester of college and I admit to having a few too many drinks at night time on occasion when off duty. So there I was, hung over, with the deaf kids at the circus.

The kid sitting next to me asked (in sign language) if there would be elephants. I signed "Not now. Maybe later elephants." About five minutes later I looked over at the kid and he was repeatedly signing "Not now. Maybe later elephants." The child was echolalic in sign language!

As an aside, I was in college from 1976 to 1979 in a nationally recognized special ed program. They taught us almost nothing about autism...barely a mention...at the time, they thought that autism might be caused by the pain of childhood ear infections being so severe that it made the child "tune out." Seriously. So if your child has any teachers 40 or above who seem clueless, know that their training in the field of autism may have been almost non-existent.

 

[BethanyF]

I saw that someone else mentioned incredible memroy. Sam is like this too. Ive gotten to the point where i can use his memory. If we are shopping and I see a magazine or book I can ask him if I already own it. And he always knows the correct answer, he has saved me a couple times from rebuying an issue I already have at home.
He can tell me, in great detail, what we did on each WDW trip. "We dont have to go on that ride this time, we went on that on our 2002 trip when I was 3" 'Remember when that little girl sat next to me in the line for Minnie Mouse, she was cute' 'I was only 3 then, thats why I had to hold my ears during the parade, I was a little scared' and so on. The stuff he remembers is NOT things I have pictures of, so it's not as though he is remembering the picture.
Even his teachers use his built in calendar / memory. In first grade his teacher gave him the job of reminding her to remind the class to return their library books. Every Thursday he would tell me 'I have to remind Mrs N to tell the class to bring the books back tomorrow'

My favorite recent story is from last year (1st grade). There had been some misbehaving on the playground and the teacher sat all the kids down for a discussion about appropriate behaviors and punishment for inappropriate behaviors. She asked the class for ideas. Most of the answers were things like 'no recess' 'no snack time' and so on. Sam raised his hand and she asked for his answer...'I have the perfect idea. We'll just have a tribal council and vote the bad ones outta here' She had tears rolling down her face when she told me the story and admitted it was the first time a student was able to stun her silent with an answer. Of course we were all proud that he came up with a solution that seemed appropriate.