My twin son (the NT one) wants a kitten and found out that one of his cousins has one that she is trying to find a new home for. Even though I am not too keen on the idea of another pet, we were talking about it during our dinner and the two boys were chiming in with their excitement over this possibility. We already have a parakeet, leopard gecko and a ferret so another animal in this apartment just does not sit too well with me. I finished up our conversations with "I will have to sleep on it". I really don't recall the exact comment I used with this phrase but I will assume it went like this: I really do not know if we should get this kitten boys, I will have to sleep on it. Conversation ended and the next afternoon I was asked about the kitten by the NT son as both boys walked into the door from school. I told him I really don't know what happen with the kitten as I have not talked to his cousin. Minutes later my ASD son is starting with a typical meltdown - at this point I have no idea why he is behaving this way. This meltdown lasted a good hour from him kicking walls, screaming and every other behavior that usually accompanies a rage. Finally he de-esculates through the help of this exhausted mom and we talk about what happened. Again, this is one of the times I had no idea what started it and it was my duty to try to help him gather his thoughts and replay his reactions so this behavior would not happen again.
Finally he was able to tell me "If you didn't sleep on it maybe you would know more about the kitten". WOW - it made sense. Because the night prior I said I would sleep on it - he thought I slept on the kitten and killed it which is why I had no idea what happened to the kitten.
I probably do not have to remind you but Asperger's children are very literal in their communications. My dear ASD son learned a new idiom last night that "Sleep On It" means to not make an immediate decision about a plan or idea, but to wait until the next day in order to have more time to think about it. Mom learned that I so need to be more careful when using idioms.
We had a very similar situation happen with a goldfish. While my 7 year old aspie had no problem with the fact that the fish was dead or dumping the fish in the toilet. However, a melt down came on as soon as the fish was out of eyesight. Not because it was dead but because it was gone & not able to be played with anymore. Alive or dead he felt he could still play with it!
ReplyDeleteThe typical Black and White and not seeing the gray. I understand and sympathize with you as I can actually see this situation occurring with my son. How old is your son??
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