"If you make one more move, Mister! If you put one fin on that boat...Nemo!"
And then it was my turn to be delighted. Yes, he was scripting, but it was quasi-appropriate. He was telling me that I was being a nag, that I sounded like Nemo's scolding dad, Marlin. He was communicating and joking with me. Teasing me, if you will. I loved it.
Yesterday was a different story. When I picked him up from aftercare, the director pulled me aside.
"There was an issue on the bus," she whispered. "He was being fresh."
"Oh, no. What did he do?"
She lowered her voice even more. "He said shut up. It's not a phrase we use here."
"Nor do we," I assured her, stifling a laugh. We say just about everything else, but we don't say "shut up." He was probably scripting off a YouTube video, but it could have been so much worse."I had him apologize to the bus driver," she told me.
"OK," I said. "But that will probably just make him do it more. It's best to just ignore the unwanted behavior."
"I understand. It's just that the bus driver was upset."
If the bus driver was upset by "shut up", it's a good thing she wasn't in my car that time the Boy finished his ice cream and asked for more.
"No more ice cream," I told him. "You've had enough."
"Fuuuckin' SHIT!" he shouted in a pitch-perfect imitation of my husband, and spiked his empty ice cream cup on the floor of the car.
"Don't react. Don't laugh. Don't say a word," I muttered through clenched jaw as Big Bro quivered with silent laughter and real tears ran down his face. I don't know what was funnier--hearing my autistic son curse like a pro or watching my 13 year-old struggle not to laugh. I'll admit, it was entertaining as hell, but you know what? We didn't react, and that particular expletive wasn't repeated.
The bus driver probably wouldn't like to hear my son script entire conversations in all of our voices, especially those of a personal nature:
"Oh my gawd! What is that smell?"
"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it!"
"What did you eat?"
"Dad, you FARTED!"
Yep, she probably wouldn't approve. That script keeps happening because we're awful people and we laugh at it. Can't help it. The kid does great impersonations!
But the key is to ignore the unwanted behavior. If you tell my kid not to do something, he will do it just to mess with you. It's just his way.
So I wasn't at all surprised to hear that he was yelling "shut up" on the bus again today. Duh. Since I don't see the driver, I contacted his case worker and asked her to give the driver some strategies for dealing with this. I'm glad I've got a go-between to deal with these complaints, because if this keeps on, I may have to give her a number of informative pamphlets on autism.
Or maybe I'll just tell her to shut up. ;)
(I won't do that, of course. She's lovely and I'm too polite.)
Love this!!!, My son is 14 and randomly scripts inappropriate words in public, "shut the F### up" or even better yet, "HOLY S***" he got this from a video off of youtube, and yes probably me too,,,lol! it's the way he says that makes it so, so, so hard not to pay attention or laugh after he says it. One day at the grocery store, we were in the check out lane and all of a sudden he drops the shut the,f***,, up script, without even looking up or paying any attention to the script that my son just said, I burted out, I'm sorry, your probably going to hear some swear words for a minute and the more we react the more you'll hear.. As I looked up to see the cashier's reaction, she smiled and said, Oh it's fine, he's just fine. I love people like that, even if they talk crap about me after leaving the store at least she didn't make me feel bad at that moment!! I really don't care anyway what people say or think but in those moment's as a mother a friendly smile goes a long way! Like you said, he does great impression's, lol! My son does as well, it's hard not to laugh. It's so true,, they are communicating through scripting weather it being obscenities or not. :) I love there honesty!!! :)
ReplyDeleteNot laughing is almost impossible sometimes!!!
DeleteI really needed this! My 14 year old is developing quite the colorful vocabulary. I'm afraid my reaction (after ignoring didn't seem to do anything-probably because the family wasn't consistent in the ignoring) has made it worse. I thought I could tell him that we don't use those "bad" words because they are rude and make some people upset. His reply? "But I like bad words!" Now what?
ReplyDeleteTell him I like bad words, too! ;)
DeleteI have so many feels from your blog! Today I stopped by because I needed to see your picture of normal family...normal for you...because I'm struggling with my normal for us...which involves a big pile of poop on the side of the tub after a long bath. I just needed to hang with my tribe for a sec. Okay. Now I'm going to go finish cleaning up. Thanks for sharing the ugly truth!
ReplyDeleteBoth my sons script but sometimes, it's not a bad thing. Like yours, mine can repeat what someone else has said down to the tone. Very helpful when one day, he kept standing up on the couch and I said "(....), sit down!" to which he replied in an almost screechy voice "(......!!!!!) SIT DOWN NOW!!!!" it wasn't a very nice tone but I knew right away who it was - the bus escort. So I asked her the very next day "does (...) stand up on the bus?" and she said "how did you know?" to which I replied "he scripts" - she blinked - "yes, if he hears something, he'll repeat it word for word" pause, innocently, "right down to the tone". Pause.
ReplyDeleteYep, I know exactly how you're talking to my kid.
She wrote him up eventually, only to have the office staff be completely and utterly not believe her. No, not him! No, there must be a mistake. Apparently, he's an angel in school but I have no doubt he was doing what the escort said he was doing but whatevs. Nobody liked her anyway. :-)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI died laughing reading this to my daughter. The ice cream part nearly made me pee my pants. Love it
ReplyDeleteSPECIAL THANKS TO DR WILLIAMS FOR THE AUTISM CURED HE
ReplyDeleteRENDER TO MY SON.
I'm giving a testimony about Dr. WILLIAMS for the great deed he have done for my family, he has
the natural cure to autism, he cured my son from autism ,
though I went through different website I saw a testimonies about this
Dr Williams, I was like: 'Dr Williams have the autism cure why are
people still suffering from it?' I thought of it, then I contact Dr Williams, I didn't believe him that much, I just wanted to give him a try, he replied my mail and Needed some Information about my son, then I sent them to him, he prepared the (CURE) and sent it to me through Courier Service he gave my details to the Courier Office, they told me that 1-3 days I will receive the package and my son took the medicine as prescribed by Dr Williams and i took my son for check-up 1 week after finishing the medicine, then the autism was not there anymore, if you are suffering from autism you can also contact him on his via email address: drwilliams098675@gmail.com for his help.
I am Sophie from Canada, I once suffered from a terrible and Chronic autism ,since i was bone , the doctor told me there was no permanent cure i was given medications to slow down its progress, i constantly felt my health was deteriorating as i constantly go out of breath,and this illness was really terrible especially when am going out with my friends, i have this constant disorder for about 31 years, this was really a terrible ailment ,on thin one day that i was going through the internet,and i came across a post of Mrs Kate on how his son was been cured from autism through the help of Dr Williams herbal product, I contacted this herbal doctor via his email and explain everything to him and make purchase of his product,few days later he sent me the herbal medicine through courier service, when i received the herbal medicine, i used it 1 months and two weeks as prescribed by Dr Williams and i was totally cured within those week of usage,on thin now i have not experience any sign or characteristics again . for more information you can email him on drwilliams098675@gmail.com for help.
ReplyDeleteSPECIAL THANKS TO DR WILLIAMS FOR THE AUTISM CURE HE
ReplyDeleteRENDER TO MY SON.
I'm giving a testimony about Dr. WILLIAMS for the great deed he have done for my family, he has
the natural cure to autism, he cured my 7 years old son from autism ,
I went through different website where I saw a testimonies about this great Dr Williams, I was like: 'Dr Williams have the autism cure why are
people still suffering from it?' I thought of it, then I contact Dr Williams, I didn't believe him that much, I just wanted to give him a try, he replied my mail and Needed some Information about my son, then I sent them to him, he prepared the (CURE) and sent it to me through Courier Service and he also give me details to the Courier Office, that i will receive the medicine between 1-3 working days,after getting the medicine from the delivering company my son started using the medicine as prescribed by Dr Williams and i took my son for check-up 1 month after finishing the medicine, then the doctor confirmed that my son is now autism free, if you are suffering from autism you can also contact him on his email address: drwilliams098675@gmail.com for his help.
HOW I WAS CURED TOTALLY FROM AUTISM
ReplyDeleteI had my first attack of (AUTISM) when I was a kid, I wasn't diagnosed until 27 years later when I was totally experiencing speech delay. It was so terrifying that I began dropping things and losing sensitivity to sounds, having severe fatigue and muscle weakness. A horrible poor eyes contact began. I sometimes can't walk straight and fall onto walls and I get leaning disability, the English medications i used proved abortive. i was so frustrated that i had to contact My neurologist,he told me about a new RRMS (relapsing-remitting MS) drug which was only in its trial stage, CAMPATH. I started the chemo-type treatment and some prescribed drugs like: RISPERDAL, EFFEXOR XR, GEODON and MEMANTINE. which resulted in 1st seizure of my life, thereby adding more salt to my injury. As a result to proffer solution to my problems, i started going online in search for a cure, i came across a testimony of a woman who got her son cure through HERBAL MEDICATION, at first, i doubted because of the misconception that autism can not be cured. But i later contacted the Doctor through the email provided, and I used his Herbal product, after 1 month of use, I noticed tremendous improvement in my health, 5 months after, I can proudly say, I've been totally cured by Dr.williams Herbal Medication from AUTISM..., If you have the same health issue, you may contact him for a total change of story, Via: drwilliams098675@gmail.com . I believe your predicament will be a thing of the past just like mine.
As a sign of gratitude for how my son was saved from autism, i decided to reach out to those still suffering from this.
ReplyDeleteMy son suffered autism in the year 2013 and it was really tough and heartbreaking for me because he was my all and the symptoms were terrible, he always have difficulty with communication,and he always complain of poor eye contact . we tried various therapies prescribed by our neurologist but none could cure him. I searched for a cure and i saw a testimony by someone who was cured and so many other with similar body problem, and they left the contact of this doctor who had the cure to autism . I never imagined autism has a natural cure not until i contacted him and he assured me my son will be fine. I got the herbal medication he recommended and my son used it and in one months time he was fully okay even up till this moment he is so full of life.autism has a cure and is a herbal cure,you contact the doctor for more info on drwilliams098675@gmail.com on how to get the medication. Thanks for reading my testimony .
DR WILLIAMS HERBAL CURE TO AUTISM.
ReplyDeleteI was always praying to have a testimony when ever i saw people sharing their own testimonies which really took me years but today i am the happiest father on earth.My son suffered autism for 5 years, after taken different kind of western medication without been cured.All these years my son have been abnormal but today he is been cured.and you do not know how i feel having my son back to normal because it was not really easy for me having just two son and one been abnormal.I took time to search the internet which i found a lot of people thanking Dr. Williams concerning the same problem and i discussed it with my wife and she agreed will should give a try so we order his product which my son took for 28 days and he is very much okay now.I will advise you to stop wasting time on all these western medicine because they only work for some times and the problem bounce back again.Contact Dr.at drwilliams098675@gmail.com for advice and for his product and be the next to give your testimony.