Autism moments that have made you laugh

[call me jaded]

Just for fun! Sparked by a distinctly 'active but odd' incident...

 

Yesterday my 16 year old non-verbal DS came in off his transport from school and took great exception to the shirt I was wearing (a pink cotton formal shirt - I'd ironed it and everything!). He immediately chased me down the hall grabbing the buttons to get me to take it off. I had to stand in the kitchen with him pulling at the shirt whilst I undid the buttons. At first I thought he was just having a grump as he came in from school but he was absolutely determined that the shirt had to come off. He let me put on a t-shirt no problem.

 

Later in the evening my DD1's friend came over and we were telling him about the event - 'just as well you didn't get here earlier' kind of thing. DS then went to pick up the shirt which I'd left on a stool and took it over to the laundry basket and put it in. So funny - DS was laughing as he did. As we all burst out laughing he went back, took it out of the basket and put it in the bin. Talk about functional communication! I think it was the buttons he was objecting to.

 

We then spent a good half hour talking about all the funny things he'd done with clothing - he takes his shoes off at the drop of a hat in the most inappropriate places - walked through the airport in his bare feet, throws shoes in the bin, over fences, out of the car, was permanently naked at home when he was young, will only wear track suit bottoms and only then with a certain feel about them. All these things that are so bizarre that you would never think were part of autism if you weren't living with it every day but are really so much a part of our lives.

 

Anyone else?

[coolblue]

At the risk of turning a light-hearted thread into something serious

 

button phobia is a recognised phenomenon.

 

http://www.gregology.net/Health/Koumpounophobia

 

There's evidence of a hard-wired response in primates to things shaped like bugs or scuttling things - and you can imagine how that might have come into being as a useful safety feature.

 

Of course your son might simply have not liked the colour, or seeing you wearing something different, or had bad memories of buttons himself.

 

My son has had real problems with shoes, especially new ones. He once (at 2) demolished an entire shoe display, and used to regularly scream the shop down. As he got a bit older, we realised he fell over a lot more when he wore new shoes, and then of course the OTs found he had balance and proprioception problems, which would have meant that new shoes meant that the ground felt different under his feet and he would have had problems keeping his balance and not tripping over.

 

cb

[zeldasmum]

My son has a button phobia,

He can cope with the little buttons on his school t-shirt as long as they are not fastened (he would never touch them hiself).

The buttons on his duvet cover have got to face away from him. The look of horror on his face if someone has got a cardi or top with big buttons on it.

 

His funny things come mainly from the things he says. The hairdressers is a stressfull event for him. it has only been the last year that he hasn't screamed the place down. He will allow them to cut his hair but will ask them "do you know what you are doing?" "Are you trained?" "Let me see your certificates?" "When will this torture end?" that is one of his favourite sayings.

 

I was playing chess with and he said " Surrender your king defeat is imminent and I will defile your queen" my mouth fell open in shock god only knows were he has got the word defile from as he is only six. His dad didn't even know what it meant.

[KarenT]

Fun thread

 

I was playing the Socially Speaking board game with J (nearly 12, AS) a couple of days ago.

 

I took a card that instructed me to comment on what made a good listener.

 

I read it aloud: "Describe two things that would make someone a good li...."

 

J interrupted and said "Oh, look, a dead woodlouse!"

 

Perfect example of WHY he needs to play Socially Speaking! He recognised it himself and we laughed for ages .

 

Karen

x

[coolblue]

When ds (then 10) had just been diagnosed I was on tenterhooks about whether to tell him he had an ASD, and if so how.

 

I eventually got the opportunity and explained. There was a moment's silence. Then he said "You know when they used to build castles...." and proceeded to quiz me about the finer points of mediaeval architecture.

 

It was only weeks later, that he repeated, almost verbatim what I had told him about his diagnosis, so he was clearly listening, just more interested in castles at that moment.

 

Another was when I was explaining why we thought he should change schools (he was 11). I explained about the reasons, and the process, and in case he was expecting this to happen tomorrow, added "But this all could take quite a long time." He retorted "I bet it won't take as long as it took for you to explain all that to me."

 

cb

[cathyz]

When my son was about 7 his Dad took him on a trawler fishing trip, as they sat at the back of the boat the man running it handed Pat a wooden hand line and told him to throw it over the back of the boat.....................(you can see where this is going can't you)he looked at the man looked at the line and then over it went, TWICE before Dad thought to explain!

Edited September 18, 2010 by cathyz

[baddad]

Back in the easter holidays I was spring cleaning and the head came off of my mop. Not wishing to lose any time I shouted trhough to Ben, asking him to grab ny wallet, run to the shop and buy a new mop head.

Imagine my shock when twenty minutes later he crashed through the French windows on a brand new 125 Vespa! He hadn't been 'demonstrating good listening' and thought I'd asked him to get me a new moped!

I was a bit narked at the time because it cost me over four grand, but later we had a good old laugh about it

 

 

 

On a slightly more serious note... Along with the canoe incident (which was mainly visual so won't work in type) one of my favourite stories is when we saw Ben's music teacher at the petrol station. I had gone into pay, while ben waited in the car, and the Music teacher was in front of me. He asked after Ben, and said he would 'say hello' on his way out. I said that was fine, but that he shouldn't be surprised if Ben didn't recognise him 'out of context'. He was a bit stunned, and said 'But he sees me every day - of course he will.'

So I paid for my petrol etc and when I came out the shop, Mr O was busy chatting to Ben about school and lessons etc. 'See,' he said, 'I told you he'd recognise me'. He moved over so I could get into the car and then said Goodbye, at which point Ben said 'Bye then... Dad, who is he?' It makes it even funnier that Mr O is a pretty distinctive character even for a Music Teacher - a sort of cross between Ichabod Crane and Arthur Brown.... Oh, how we laughed.

 

L&P

 

BD

[call me jaded]

Anyone else for whom a shower three times a day is perfectly normal? lol Hope they never make water metres compulsory.

And anyone's neighbours ever ask you why he wasn't on the swing seat - is he not well?

[zeldasmum]

He went for the day out with his Nan and came back with a little blue rubber ball with soft spikey things on it.

As it had the name Andrew on it(which isn't his name) I said why didnt you get the one with your name on?

His reason was A) It was blue (the only colour he wants)

Andrew is the balls name.

He is very attached to it and if he cant find it, his version of looking for it is to stand in the middle of the room and say "Andrew come out come out wherever you are" He really expects it to just appear.

God love him

x

[trekster]

Thanks for the warning about 'just for fun' CMJ much appreciated.

 

How about "look down the road and tell me if anything is coming".

i dont reply. "is anything coming then?" im asked, "no you asked me to tell you if something was coming but since nothing was

coming i didn't say anything".

 

Another one is my mum who was worried that my left-handedness would require a "left hand drive car" when i was older.

She insists this was a joke but from the description of my Gran it wasn't.

 

My brother (scored 36 on AQ test) was asked to "tell Alex that the house is available and she can go home now".

He told me instead of aunty Alex, i asked him "what are you on about" he just repeated the message. Then my aunty

Alex had a go at me because didn't pass the message on! (last sentence not so funny).

 

'Bottomless coffee pot' i thought was impossible since you cant have a coffee pot with no bottom. Wish they had

called it unlimited coffee! Helped me explain to my friend what it meant in a constructive manner though.

 

i think there was a conference or a book called "loving laughing with Asperger syndrome" (words to that effect) in 1996.

[call me jaded]

Today he has dragged me into the sitting room (we do most things in the kitchen) and made me sit with him. He's lying on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and I'm sitting with my feet over his legs. It's a grown-up version of the OT sensory input we used to do. Everytime I make a move to get up he grabs my legs. He really makes me laugh that he can get me to do whatever he wants without a single word of language.

[Sally44]

Just for fun! Sparked by a distinctly 'active but odd' incident...

 

Yesterday my 16 year old non-verbal DS came in off his transport from school and took great exception to the shirt I was wearing (a pink cotton formal shirt - I'd ironed it and everything!). He immediately chased me down the hall grabbing the buttons to get me to take it off. I had to stand in the kitchen with him pulling at the shirt whilst I undid the buttons. At first I thought he was just having a grump as he came in from school but he was absolutely determined that the shirt had to come off. He let me put on a t-shirt no problem.

 

Later in the evening my DD1's friend came over and we were telling him about the event - 'just as well you didn't get here earlier' kind of thing. DS then went to pick up the shirt which I'd left on a stool and took it over to the laundry basket and put it in. So funny - DS was laughing as he did. As we all burst out laughing he went back, took it out of the basket and put it in the bin. Talk about functional communication! I think it was the buttons he was objecting to.

 

We then spent a good half hour talking about all the funny things he'd done with clothing - he takes his shoes off at the drop of a hat in the most inappropriate places - walked through the airport in his bare feet, throws shoes in the bin, over fences, out of the car, was permanently naked at home when he was young, will only wear track suit bottoms and only then with a certain feel about them. All these things that are so bizarre that you would never think were part of autism if you weren't living with it every day but are really so much a part of our lives.

 

Anyone else?

 

I just wanted to give you my experience as an adult that is not on the spectrum, but whom has sensory issues. Tactile issues and fabrics is one of them. I too can only wear certain fabrics, usually cotton. I cannot tolerate manmade fabrics on me. They make me feel sticky or cold and I never get used to them so I am always 'aware' of how they feel. I cannot wear wool unless it is over a long sleeved cotton Tee. I have to cut out all labels because they are painful. When I first put on clothes and can feel the tag it is just irritating, but very soon it feels like pins are being stuck into me where the tag is. I have put on a new Tee with label in by mistake and have had to take it off in town and after trying to pull out the tag with my teeth, had to resolve myself to wearing nothing under my coat and hoping I got home intact!

If someone touches me the touch remains and the pain increases. So an initial touch starts to build and feel like a burning or stabbing pain and can remain for up to a minute after the actual touch. Certain areas are more sensitive than others eg. my torso and arms and feet.

When I was a child my mum used to make alot of our clothes (showing my potential age there!). Anyway, there is at least two occasions I can remember when I did not go to a party because I refused to wear the 'frilly' dress my mum had made. Obviously she was upset, but I could not understand why she did not believe me when I said the dress hurt me.

So although the behavour often looks strange and is many times labelled 'autistic', it is a reaction to a real experience that others do not have.

I have thought many times that I would like to be able to inhabit my son's body for a short while to experience things as he does.

[Sally44]

Now for something funny my son did.

 

For some reason he is recently interested in 'disguising himself'.

One night he bought me the permanent marker pen and asked me "is this the pen that does not come off".

Yes, I said. And off he went.

That should have raised my suspicions, but it did not.

A while later he came up to me with his coat on and hood up.

He announced "I have a disguise".

What is it I asked?

He took down his hood and he had drawn a perfect 'hercule poirot' moustache in permanent marker.

I nearly wet myself laughing. He looked so funny because he had copied it so perfectly.

A black moustach on a 9 year old!

 

Anyway we tried and tried to get it off, with some success.

 

Then the following morning I could see that there was still a 'shadow' and told my son that.

 

Don't worry, he said. The 'darkness' is just because I need a shave.

[sesley]

we asked our son what he would like for his 11th birthday,his 15 year old brother has a accoustic guitar and having lessons at school our little man answered "I could do with a autistic guitar".

[call me jaded]

Yesterday Richard Madeley on Radio 2 was talking with someone who said "That's alright I'm artistic" and he reassured her "Awww no you're not, you're perfectly normal".

[call me jaded]

Thanks Sally - I cut labels out for my NT son all the time and I recall knitted jumpers being 'agony' if you didn't have anything underneath. One of my daughters refuses outright to have anything elasticated on her tops and her dad only wears cotton, so DS is in the 'right' family as far as sensitivity to touch is concerned.

[Awkward and Proud since 1979]

For me, it was more the opposite. I made people laugh, cringe or groan rather than relish another person's autism moments. At 2 - 3 years of age, I bit into a chunk of Lard as I thought it was Cheshire Cheese. Learning from there on, I know which I would prefer on my cream crackers - and it doesn't have 'Pura' or 'Kilverts' on the front of the packet.

 

In 1986, I pestered my relatives for a Dennis the Menace jersey, and was peeved to find it was a rugby shirt. The one I wanted was a woollen one, akin to the said Beano comic character.

[call me jaded]

My mother says she used to find teeth marks in the butter I don't know how anyone can eat anything else. The smell alone...

[CEJesson]

The most common moments that make this household laugh are to do with routine. For example I insisted yesterday that before I could accept the half a mars bar on the kitchen island unit (mum has asked me if I wanted it), I had to make a cup of tea first and put the bar on a plate. Little moments like that.

Edited October 3, 2010 by CEJesson

[BuntyB]

Oh where do you start?!

 

A woman said my son was 'very shy'. She went on to say 'He wouldn't say boo to a goose'.

My son said, 'Why would you eh? Whay would you say boo to a goose?'

 

We asked my daughter to take her clean clothes upstairs. Later we found a little pile neatly balanced just at the top of the stairs!

 

My son was very determined to appear 'normal'. He had a huge joke book he got from the library. He kept coming downstairs and saying 'listen to this'. He'd then read the joke adding 'Is this funny?' 'Why is it funny?' We had to explain why two words sounded the same but meant something different, or references to something else. He'd stand there for a while taking it all in, look deep in thought and say 'Ok...' and then he'd go away for 10 minutes and come back with the next one. I have to admire his determination but he must have learnt them all just so he could decide when he ought to laugh!

 

On the sensory issue, my son told me he didn't like his socks because they hurt. I had a look and couldn't see any reason for the problem until I realised they had a stitched seam in the toe. After that he told me not to buy any socks with seeds in them!

 

My eldest son doesn't like his hands cold and wet when playing in the snow, my younger doesn't feel the cold at all, but when the eldest asked if he could have PVC gloves, the yougest asked if he could have 'BBC glubs' too!

 

My kids have eaten butter too. At a coffee morning they cut the butter into little christmas tree shapes. They disappeared. My son ate a whole plate ful thinking they were 'biscuits'. He said they were really nice biscuits!

[lindy2017]

Hi, Funny thing was i was telling my friend that i thought my son had aspergers or something not dx yet....and her son whos 20 now is dx with the high funtioning type cant remeber all the name .....and she was saying when he was oyunger was telling his sister about his friends mum who had died....his sister said it must be terrible what if mum had died he said Oh i,d be guttted and go off my head..then after 9 hours i would be ok and have to get on with it......we laughed so much only 9 hours......then when she tells him things like pull up your socks as a phrase he takes it literally...lindy

[call me jaded]

My brother has just nearly had a heart attack because he went into the sitting room to check my radiator valves and what he thought was blanket suddenly moved. DS lol'd along with the rest of us.

[CEJesson]

 

 

We asked my daughter to take her clean clothes upstairs. Later we found a little pile neatly balanced just at the top of the stairs!

 

Hi Shona,

This one brought so many similarities to here!

[Sammysnake]

My son was very determined to appear 'normal'. He had a huge joke book he got from the library. He kept coming downstairs and saying 'listen to this'. He'd then read the joke adding 'Is this funny?' 'Why is it funny?' We had to explain why two words sounded the same but meant something different, or references to something else. He'd stand there for a while taking it all in, look deep in thought and say 'Ok...' and then he'd go away for 10 minutes and come back with the next one. I have to admire his determination but he must have learnt them all just so he could decide when he ought to laugh!

 

Wow, this sounds VERY familiar!!

[Lilypad]

My 7 year old son is still waiting for a diagnosis but I can relate to some of the things here!

 

I have two sons and yesterday, they were arguing about something and my 10 yr old told my 7 year old to 'get lost' so he started going downstairs and was ready to walk out of the door. I asked where he thought he was going, and he said "I'm going to get lost because (my brother) told me to!" I then had to spend a while explaining what he'd actually meant! Not to mention a firm talking to with 10 year old.

[Sammysnake]

I love the way Beth questions turns of phrase rather than blindly accepting them like I do. It was her birthday on Saturday and someone said 'congratulations'. Her response: "Why are you congratulating me? I didn't choose to be born then, it just happened to me". Man I love her flawless logic .

[baileyj]

Max eats his dinner on a tray upstairs, yesterday I asked him to "bring down his tray", which he duly did, leaving the plate upstairs still, it really made me laugh, talk about literal.

[Robyn]

I have 2 brothers and they haven't got a diagnosis for anything.

 

When one of my brothers was about 15/16 my mum asked him to get toilet role from the shop. She told him that it should be round about a pound (was on special offer) The shop is only about 10 minutes walk away, however an hour later he came back empty handed.... He told us that he couldn't find a toilet role that was called round about... so he didn't get anything.

[lindy2017]

I have 2 brothers and they haven't got a diagnosis for anything.

 

When one of my brothers was about 15/16 my mum asked him to get toilet role from the shop. She told him that it should be round about a pound (was on special offer) The shop is only about 10 minutes walk away, however an hour later he came back empty handed.... He told us that he couldn't find a toilet role that was called round about... so he didn't get anything.

Hi, I had to laugh .......lindy

[Karen A]

I do not know whether this is an ASD moment that made us laugh or just a momment that made us laugh.

However my husband and myself have smiled for days.......

 

My husband [ben's dad] regularly gives Ben an alarm call at about seven.

He puts on the radio [currently to six music] and tells Ben that it will soon be time to get up.

 

Ben responded the other morning....probably after much thought..by saying very clearly ''I am in the first stage of getting up....''

He then turned over and pulled the duvet up as far as he could and went back to sleep.

 

My husband and myself have considered this approach and considered at length how it can and is being used by governments,LAs and the UN to mention a few.

[Tally]

I had a prosopagnosic moment a few years ago when I saw my boss in town and said, "hello Jerry." He just looked at me funny and walked off, which I thought was quite rude.

 

Then I realised it was not my boss. It was Nick Knowles.

 

My boss did not even look like Nick Knowles

[av16]

When my DS was about 5 he loved Harry Potter (Poettr as he wrote on his school bookbag). Everyday I noticed he had a dirty mark on his forehead and I'd scrub it off each night in the bath. I couldn't understand how these dirty marks happened until we went into Boots and he made a beeline for red lipsticks and drew a mark on his forehead - a Harry Potter scar as I later found out. This happened for a good year and I couldn't take him anywhere near a chemist as he ruined their make up display.

[Karen A]

We had a few minutes today that made us smile.

 

We went to a very nice Pizza Express in East London for lunch.

Ben discovered a while ago that he can put music on his ap and play it on a piano.

Ben evidently knew that Pizza Express had a very lovely grand piano downstairs.After lunch he said he was going to have a look at it.The next thing we knew he was playing it.......with several people upstairs having lunch.Fortunately the manager was very good and said it was ok as long as it was not too loud.I could only think about how much a grand piano costs.

 

Karen.

[Boy]

When I was little my mum would often comment on how well behaved I was (I was a very quiet child, barely spoke, and even cried quietly as a baby) by saying she didn't know where I hid my wings. I'd try to look at my back, wondering where my wings were, and that if they were 'inside my back' how I could get them to come out.

 

She'd also say things about wanting to 'eat me up' and I used to be terrified.

 

I collected Mr Men books, and when my mum read Mr. Tickle to me, at the end where it describes his hands coming to tickle you I'd stare at the living room door and panic, because I thought that that was really what was happening.

 

A couple of years ago I was doing a puzzle with my mum and brother. Literally everything I said was copying things I'd heard on TV, and at first they both found it hilarious, but then started to find it really annoying, but I honestly couldn't stop myself.

[Eccentric]

I can remember a few incidents from my own childhood.

 

When I was about seven, our teacher gave each of us a book marker, which doubled as a reading aid. You held it horizontally to cover the line below the one you were reading, and lowered it as you went along. As I could read quite well, I considered this unnecessary, so didn’t bother to use the book marker. So when it was my turn to come and read to the teacher, I left it on my desk.

 

“Where’s your book marker?” asked the teacher.

I looked at her blankly, not understanding.

“Your book marker,” she repeated, getting impatient.

 

I tried to work out what she was talking about. What she appeared to be asking was, “Where’s your book, Marker?” But my name wasn’t Marker. There was a Marcus in our class, so I wondered if she was confusing my name with his (and pronouncing it wrongly). But what did she mean, “Where’s your book?” It was right in front of her.

 

“There’s my book,” I said timidly.

“Marker!” she yelled.

 

“I don’t know what you mean,” I replied solemnly, trying to show I wasn’t messing about. At this point the boy sitting in the front row reached behind him, took the book marker off my desk, and passed it to the teacher. “Here it is,” he said. Oh, was that thing called a book marker? Now I understood.

 

“Don’t know what I mean!” said the teacher, scornfully.

 

That’s one of the biggest problems of autism: people refuse to believe you don’t understand. I’m still inclined to interpret what I’m told in these kinds of absurd ways, or get bypassed on what things are called – a bit like Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous.

[Boy]

That reminded me of when I was on a school trip and we were standing outside, and there were lots of stones on the path. I've always had a bit of a 'thing' for round stones, and would pick them up and often put them in my pockets, or at the very least fiddle with them a bit, then I'd have to throw them out of sight otherwise I'd be distracted by them. The teacher said not to kick the stones. I saw a particularly smooth looking stone and picked it up, but then realised that I couldn't put it back down without wanting to keep picking it back up again, and I didn't want to put it in my pocket because collecting stones seemed sort of silly (I'd have nowhere to put them if I kept all the stones I picked up). So I threw it into the water. A boy in my class told the teacher that I'd thrown a stone and was really angry and said, "What did I just say about the stones?!" "You said not to kick them." I didn't get in any more trouble, which I suppose was because she had to concede that I hadn't actually broken her rule about kicking stones, but she was still really annoyed and acted like I was just being stupid.

 

I was actually really well behaved in school and followed instructions, and was always terrified of being told off (or pretty much spoken to at all), but this particular teacher really disliked me for some reason.