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What did he really mean?
Never having a child with Asperger's Syndrome, Scott and I were slow learners. For a number of years (when Jonathan finally decided to talk) he'd use unusual sounds, words or phrases in response to our basic attempts to communicate with him.
When he was about three if someone asked something like "Jonathan, how are you doing today?"
He'd respond, "Tee. Tee."
When he was four, if you asked him a standard question, you'd get his standard answer.
"Jonathan, what do you want for dinner?"
"Eighty nine."
This number was his favorite number and his response to any question for a long time. After awhile he changed his new favorite number and response to "Fifty-four!"
As I said, we were slow. But one day after talking to various specialists, we determined that Jonathan lacked the verbal skills to be able to answer our questions. Once the light bulb came on for us, we were able to give him the appropriate words and responses.
"Jonathan, how are you today?"
"Eighty-nine!"
"Gee, you sound a little bit sad today. Are you sad?"
"Yes, sad," he'd say.
"Jonathan, what do you want for dinner tonight?"
"Eighty-nine!"
"Well, I'm sorry, I'm fresh out of eighty-nines, but I do have tacos or mac and cheese. Would you like one of these instead."
"Tacos!"
4 comments:
I think it is great that you are starting this blog! I'm looking forward to following along! -Dawn
Thank you for following my blog. I'm enjoying yours, and I think the title is fantastic.
I'm a friend of Dawn's, not some random stalker.
I found you through Nancy and am interested because I have a 19 year old nephew with aspergers. He graduated HS last year and wants to get a job and/or just be productive in life. His....personality?...lol...is getting in the way on his quest to adulthood. His family has never taken an "active" interest in aspergers, but he was in a wonderful school system and once they learned his "triggers" he was never problomatic and was (and is) an obedient student and son. He's battled depression and the typical aspy anxiety, but is not on any meds and he's never seen a specialist, outside of the school district and that was in kindergarten.
I have been trying to research the transition to adulthood, but it seems like a lot of aspy's have been better prepared to head into the "real world" then my Charles has. I look forward to learning from your experiences and using the information to better Charles' life.
Becky, thanks for your interest. One of my favorite movies is called "Mozart and the Whale." It is about an adult with A.S. He did not receive the diagnosis until he was an adult. The movie, as well as the book the movie is based upon, talk about the difficult transition from the structure of school into the real world.
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