Do children with Autism have a sense of humor?

It's a dad's place in nature to make their children laugh.  We tickle, tease and perform ridiculous routines to try and get kids to laugh.  Long before I had any idea that my son would be diagnosed with Autism, I was doing my best to get that ball rolling.

As a baby, Hayden would laugh pretty hard when I popped my head up from under the table to surprise him.  As he got older his challenges with communication were getting to be more apparent.  There were periods of time between the ages of 2 and 5 when his emotions seemed much more bland.  As a toddler most of our time was spent trying to get him to listen or figuring out what appropriate consequences were for misbehavior. 

After we learned more about his diagnoses I was so relieved to finally know what we were really dealing with.  It became more of a personal quest for me to better connect with Hayden.  Realizing that he took everything literally helped me.  I never stopped kidding around with him, I just worked extra hard to help explain to him when I was joking and when I was serious.  If I made a joke to the kids about something that was silly, I made sure it was extra silly and let him practice figuring out whether I was joking or not.  This seems to have helped him develop an ability to get it when others around him are joking. 

Now, he absolutely loves to joke around.  He reads joke books and practices his jokes on us.  He also has a clever mind and comes up with his own jokes all the time.  For example, on a recent trip to the mountains, I explained to Hayden that the Aspen trees are called "Quaking aspens"  because of the trembling of the leaves in the wind.  Immediately he said, "like, shiver me timbers!"  Then he doubled over laughing at his own joke.  He's gotten pretty good at making me laugh.  He especially likes to do things that are just plain silly to make his sisters laugh.  I'll have to post some pictures of the outrages costumes he has come up with just to get us to laugh.

I love my Hayden!

With medication The Difference is NIght and Day

Yesterday Hayden brought home a note from the teacher.  He was breaking pencils, getting his snack out in the middle of a lesson and not following directions to put it away.  (They had just had lunch.)  He was sent to the principals office.  The note ended with a :( and said that it was a rough day.

As parents, we were already feeling frustrated with how this year had started out.  It requires a huge effort for us to help him with his homework.  Hovering over him at the kitchen table with his worksheets and journal from the time he gets home from school till bedtime with dinner in between is the only way to get it all done. 

To be honest I was relieved when I noticed that I forgot to give him yesterday's morning dose of medication.  I felt relieved because without the medication this behavior is what we would anticipate.  His medication suppresses his appetite and when he misses a dose, he gains a voracious appetite.  His ability to control his behavior is also very much affected.  Without his medication, I feel as though I'm dealing with a wild feral child.  With it, he is still quirky at times, but it's as if his mind is in the room with you too.  The biggest relief is just knowing that, because I gave him his medicine this morning, today will go much, much better.