Autism, be quiet!

A few months back Drew noticed the word "autism" on various t-shirts and other items around the house. He asked what it was. So I told him that it was something in his brain that is different from everyone else's. I named off several of his autistic friends and told him they also had special brains. We discussed how having autism doesn't mean he gets treated any differently, and it's never to be used as an excuse. He asked what the autism makes him do, so I pointed out some of his quirks. One of those is when he starts quoting movies, tv shows, commercial, books etc. He does this in a very high pitched voice, and he never realizes he's doing it.

After our discussion, I started pointing things out to him as they were happening. A lot of times he will catch himself, smack himself on the forehead and say "Autism! Be quiet!" I had to remind him not to hit himself so hard, but for the most part this has worked in "bringing him back" to earth when he goes off on a tirade.

He also noticed that Gabe is different than other kids, and asked if Gabe had autism in his brain too. I confirmed this, and Drew asked if Gabe's flapping was part of his autism. Gabe is indeed a flapper, and will flap like crazy when watching nascar, traffic, credits at the end of movies and the sports ticker on ESPN.

Since these conversations with Drew, I've been able to instruct him to tell his autism to be quiet or to stop doing X, Y and Z. It's really helping him become aware of some of his strange habits. He will always have trouble reading body language and knowing how to give personal space. Drew's stim (Gabe's is flapping) is auditory, he likes making weird noises and hearing how they sound. He loves using Rob's old cell phone to record himself making weird noises. He now is becoming more aware that this is his autism, and that he needs to tone it down.

And then there's Caroline. I caught her jumping up and down in from of the tv (like Gabe) flapping away like crazy. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was jumping like Gabe. When I asked her why, she said she wanted some autism too. I don't recall how I responded to that, except to tell her to stop mocking her brother and that I was very sorry, her brain was special without autism. Oy vey!

I don't know how long this approach will work for Drew, it very well may morph into another type of stim. But for the time being I'm taking it as a good sign of awareness on his part. He's aware that some of the things he wants to do are.....well.....weird.