Me Stay?…WHO STAY?…Me STAY!…OOHHH MEEEE STAY!

I actually realized I never put in this little anecdote. This happened when language learning was so complex for Drake. This became a memory I will NEVER, EVER forget. Wanted to share this one!

One of the hardest things for children with autism to learn is: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY. It is very difficult to teach them you, me, mine, yours and so forth. It becomes very confusing for them to get the concept of the reversal. 

I don’t think we realize justt how complex the English language really is. Synonyms can make us crazy, so imagine what a child with autism goes through. Let's see…two, to, too…for, four…there, their, they’re, and so forth. I think you get the picture. It can feel like an insurmountable task for sure. I tutored an inmate in ESL at Sing, Sing Prison and he went nuts, so you can imagine teaching this to a young child with autism. If I can get confused at times you can only imagine the glazed look that would come over their little angelic face. Cookie and candy is easy…they know that’s good and that’s all that matters. Ok enough rambling because I think you get the drift. 

At this stage of my precious guy’s life I was babysitting everyday due to my daughter and son-in-law’s work schedules. Little man and I spent hours and hours together. He made me crazy. I made him crazy. Together we had a ball everyday. We’d play stuff. He’d throw stuff. I’d cook stuff. He’d spill stuff. I’d wash stuff. He’d dirty stuff. My days were never better. In fact I would (would, wood…see what I mean?)) feel sad when it was time for (four) me to go home. Little man looked sad. I looked sad. We had a sad party.

One particular day when he looked really sad, I sat down on the bed and took his little hand and just held it. He turned to look at me with those big, beautiful brown eyes and said: “ME STAY? I was like HUH? What does he mean by me stay. So I said you stay? Again he said me stay? Being the perfect ass that I am I said, “What do you mean my love?” …and then BAM! I got it like a chocolate cream pie thrown in my the face. I WAS ME! ME WAS I! Oh my oh my! I would refer to myself as ME while speaking with him…do you want Me to…this is for ME…you and ME…Oh Lordy, Lordy…

I looked at my love and said, “do you want grandma to stay? Do you want ME to stay? His eyes lit up and tears stopped flowing when I said Me stay for awhile. Man I love this kid. It will always be him and ME.