You know that joke about listening to a country music song backwards, and the sad singer would then get all his shit back (wife, truck, gun, dog, etc)? Well, if my life were a country music song....it would be way too complicated to make into a song! So never mind.
Let me just name the things we have lost this year:
1. Our dog died
2. Daddy was moved to a prison where we can't visit him (and that was supposed to be because of his GOOD behavior--what would they do if he was behaving badly?)
3. Lost our autism drs and all the therapy appts I had set up to cover us for summer break (apparently you can get Kaiser Permanente if you're poor, but not poor AND disabled), and SSI has given no info on how to even get a primary care dr
4. And now....our school is being shut down. Budget cuts. They are closing the district's only early childhood center and think they are going to move the entire program into existing elementary schools. 3-5 year old special needs kids mixed in with big typical kids? Don't think so.
5. Oh, and don't forget my mind. I have definitely lost my mind.
Showing posts with label single parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label single parenting. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Reverse echolalia: a strange parrot
Today's nickname is "Blue Penguin Agent Secret"
It would be a very strange parrot if it wanted YOU to repeat everything IT said. That's what we've always had going on here, different than the usual parroting--if you can even call that usual. I swear, we are even atypical about atypical stuff. *Agent Secret* likes to repeat what people say, but much prefers if everyone repeats what SHE says. And lord help you if you don't.
Side note: my theory about echolalia--either standard or reverse--as being an autistic form of making eye contact is even more plausible now that I've seen it in our 3 yr old blind friend at school. Our blind friend is not autistic, yet she relies on echolalia to participate in a world that she can't see. She loves to repeat any word or phrase-- or encyclopedia page, practically-- with perfect pronunciation, but also has her repertoire of scripted stuff she says as a way to get the attention of whoever is nearby. For instance, she likes to count, and will say, "9, 10" to see if anyone is listening and if anyone will say it back to her. When someone repeats it back she is so happy and will continue the reverse echolalia, probably forever until someone puts an end to it. I believe it is like eye contact to her. And, I have just read on Wikipedia that blind children are also known to use echolalia, and Wikipedia knows everything, so therefore, my theory is sound.
Anyway, so, I'm always the one that is expected to do the repeating around here. But at 5am (that's the time dog and child force me to stumble around tending to their needs/demands), I just don't feel like repeating random crap. I just don't. I'm struggling to make my coffee and at the same time get the right food to the right critters, i.e., the dog food to the dog and not the child. Not until after one full cup of coffee can I utter a sound other than, "Hmmmm" or "Mmmmhhmmm" or "Hmmmm?" This went off like usual today, and at some point, after *Agent Secret* had said, "It's a chicken" or something like that, about one hundred times, I finally said it back--on autopilot because I didn't even know I'd said anything, and was startled by applause and congratulations, "GOOD JOB, MOMMY! Good job! Good TALKING!"
Hmmmmmmm....
It would be a very strange parrot if it wanted YOU to repeat everything IT said. That's what we've always had going on here, different than the usual parroting--if you can even call that usual. I swear, we are even atypical about atypical stuff. *Agent Secret* likes to repeat what people say, but much prefers if everyone repeats what SHE says. And lord help you if you don't.
Side note: my theory about echolalia--either standard or reverse--as being an autistic form of making eye contact is even more plausible now that I've seen it in our 3 yr old blind friend at school. Our blind friend is not autistic, yet she relies on echolalia to participate in a world that she can't see. She loves to repeat any word or phrase-- or encyclopedia page, practically-- with perfect pronunciation, but also has her repertoire of scripted stuff she says as a way to get the attention of whoever is nearby. For instance, she likes to count, and will say, "9, 10" to see if anyone is listening and if anyone will say it back to her. When someone repeats it back she is so happy and will continue the reverse echolalia, probably forever until someone puts an end to it. I believe it is like eye contact to her. And, I have just read on Wikipedia that blind children are also known to use echolalia, and Wikipedia knows everything, so therefore, my theory is sound.
Anyway, so, I'm always the one that is expected to do the repeating around here. But at 5am (that's the time dog and child force me to stumble around tending to their needs/demands), I just don't feel like repeating random crap. I just don't. I'm struggling to make my coffee and at the same time get the right food to the right critters, i.e., the dog food to the dog and not the child. Not until after one full cup of coffee can I utter a sound other than, "Hmmmm" or "Mmmmhhmmm" or "Hmmmm?" This went off like usual today, and at some point, after *Agent Secret* had said, "It's a chicken" or something like that, about one hundred times, I finally said it back--on autopilot because I didn't even know I'd said anything, and was startled by applause and congratulations, "GOOD JOB, MOMMY! Good job! Good TALKING!"
Hmmmmmmm....
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