Watch what you say around an autistic person! A caution!

[OakLady]

My son is autistic.
My daughter came home from school in a very bad mood (she is a teenager!) and was swearing and being generally nasty . She then shouted very loudly ' I wish I was dead!' several times.
My son went out of the room and luckily I followed him in time to pull him off his sister! He was trying to strangle her !
His comment when i got him away from her?
She said she wanted to be dead so I thought I'd help her???????

[charles47]

There have been tragic examples of autistic people taking things totally literally, oaklady. It can be very scary. Good job you intervened when you did!

I have one example I'd like to share: when Mike was at a specialist school for kids with autism, one of the teachers told a child to "go and wash your hands in the toilet."

Which, of course, he did.

[OakLady]

Yes charles, I've dealt with that one and last night I told my son 'Don't fall asleep on the chair again tonight'
And I found him asleep on the FLOOR!
Well I'm not on the chair mum!'
DOH!!!

[charles47]

[threewheeledcrumpet]

Loved these stories. When our elder boy was younger and learning to ride a bike, I would go out with him on the very quiet road by the house we had then. One day he got distracted by something in a field and began to steer towards it without thinking. Rushing after him as he raced towards the fence, I bellowed "Look where you're going !" Of course he continued to stare at the fence, since that was where he was going, and duly crashed into it. Fortunately, no major damage was done to him, the bike or the fence, and now I'm more careful about what exactly I say !

[Sarniajoy]

I agree you have to be very careful what you say. Our eldest grandson (6) has Aspergers and takes everything very literally, this causes quite a few problems especially at school! He also has an excellent memory and will quote word for word something he has overheard even months down the line. This can cause acute embarrassment!

[mel]

It is so easy to forget what not to say, little things are taken literally,
my son gets exasperated when I tell him where going to asda for 'a couple of things' and pick up more than 2 items.

We always argue about the time if someone asks me what time it is and I say half past 5, my son will argue that its not half past as its only 5.29.......

and just like sarnaijoy advised, my son has a fab memory, and has recalled a conversation about someone word for word 3 years down the line, unfortunately in completly the wrong company.........

[Angela24889]

My youngest brother is 12(nearly 13) all he is doing write now is swearing. I'll admit I'm partly to blame because I'm a teenager and i swear a lot when I'm angry. My parents and I have been trying to get him to stop swearing but he wont listen to us. He mostly swears if he doesn't get this his own way or if his routine changes.

[charles47]

Of course language and its use is an issue for people on the autism spectrum, especially in terms of its more subtle meaning - the emotion behind the word.

When you swear, it's usually exaggerated and the word then takes on its full meaning, with the emotion clear and understandable. Which is probably why some kids learn to swear first.

[Gerry123]

Speaking of taking things literally. We went into a Little Chef with our aspergers son. Unfortutatley the chef was rather a large man. My son said to him in all innocence and honesty, "You're not a little chef are you?"

Obviously as it was a Little Chef we visited, that's what he expected to see.

Sound corny, but it's true.

Gerry.