Autism Humor
As some of you may know, I am an aficionado of autism humor. Parenting an autistic child frequently results in situations in which the choice is to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh.
I particularly liked the following example of the genre. It is from Parenting Across the Autism Spectrum: Unexpected Lessons We Have Learned by Maureen F. Morrell and Ann Palmer. For any POAs out there, the book is well worth the fifteen bucks:
When Alex was around 18 months old he had not spoken at all, not baby babble or "Momma" or "Bye, bye"- nothing. Because of the numerous ear infections he had had, his parents were concerned that he might have a hearing loss. They didn't know at the time that he would eventually be diagnosed with autism. Not too long after having tubes put in his ears, his mom picked him up one day to carry him to his high-chair for lunch. She was enthusiastically saying, "Time for lunch, Alex!" Alex suddenly said very clearly, "I don't want another g-dd-mn peanut butter and jelly sandwich." His mom was shocked, to say the least. She called her husband at work and said, "Alex is talking! And he's talking just like you!"