Friday, February 04, 2011

Feel Good Friday: AJ's a Comedian



Check out the other Feel Good entries at The Girl Next Door Grows Up!

It's fun watching the boys' personalities emerge as they get more and more language.  AJ is quite the little comedian.

There's a dalmatian on the side of the new Fire Station tent we got this week -- just scroll down to the post below this one for pictures -- and when I asked AJ what it was, he said "a cow."  And his therapist and I laughed so much, that now he'll walk up to it randomly throughout the day and he'll make sure I'm looking, and then point at it and say "a cow" and giggle.

He also repeats a lot of what he has been hearing from Dora the Explorer for years.  I always thought one of their first words was going to be "Dora," and I wasn't far off.

Dora episodes are all about repetition -- something little Fragile X and autistic kids often love.  The Map always starts out by saying "I'm the Map" and singing a whole big "I'm the Map" song.  So AJ will say "hi, I'm the Map" randomly throughout the day.  He's mostly just talking to himself but it's so cute.

One day last week he started patting himself on the chest and telling people "Hi, I'm Dora."  And we'd laugh of course, so he takes several opportunities throughout the day to regale us with his humor.  He won't say it for just anyone.  There was a lead therapist here yesterday he doesn't know well, and AJ barely tolerated his presence.  He prefers an audience he's familiar with.  Maybe he wants to be sure he'll get laughs.  Not bad for a starting performer.

Zack is a little tougher to get to know.  His words have come slower, with more space in between them.  I still look at Zack and wonder about the little boy who seems to be locked up inside him most of the time.  But occasionally, when we aren't paying attention, he'll let a little personality trickle out.

The other day we were watching Diego (whom we love nearly as much as Dora).  Zack was laying on the floor on some pillows, being still and watching quietly, and I was taking advantage of the opportunity to lose myself in a book for a bit.  In this episode, Linda the Llama was carrying a bunch of books to the library when a big wind scattered them throughout a field.  "Oh no," Zack said softly.  He's almost 6.  I've never heard him say "oh no" before.

You have to understand that while he has a lot of words in his vocabulary, he is best at repeating things you tell him to say, or answering questions appropriately.  He almost never comes out with a comment without prompting.  It was momentus.  I stared at him in awe.  And he was so into the show, he wasn't even aware he'd done something amazing.

It's so awesome to get these glimpses into their little souls. 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

ROCK ON! My family loves Dora and her cousin Deigo are still staples in my house. My kids loved them, less and less it seems, but they will still stop and watch when it comes on.

p.s. Linda the Llama is my personal fave.

dollycas aka Lori said...

What a great story, thanks for sharing and Diego, Dora and the Mickey Mouse Club are faves here with my grandson. I find myself calling "oh toodles" far too often and let's not even discuss the hot dog song :)

JoAnna said...

That is very cool. I love to watch kids. Not in a scary, perverted kind of way. But I'm just fascinated by kids and how they are oblivious to us watching. Heck, I like to just watch anyone, no matter the age. People are really fascinating.

And, I used to call the black and white cows fire cows. Like fire dogs, which is what I called dalmations.

JoAnna said...

Oh and I am amazed at how many of the same books we've read. Or that I want to read. Someone needs to do study on what bloggers who read each other's blogs regularly really have in common. Fascinating. There I go again with that word!

Cortney said...

That is awesome! I know that moment was huge for you guys. To bad you couldn't video tape every minute of the day and catch the small things that are great and then re-watch them when you have a day that is hard. I wish I could do that in my classroom sometimes.

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