There's Even Some Humor in Autism Testing!

To label my nephew Christopher as precocious is an understatement. He’s also quite funny.

First, though, a bit of background:

His older brother, Ryan, who is 8, is autistic. Ryan is routinely evaluated at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. So are his siblings, Christopher and Jonathan.

The most recent evaluation for all three was a few weeks ago.

Christopher was in a room with the person doing the testing, while his parents and others watched from outside the room.

Christopher, just barely 5, opened the session himself by announcing, "I'm five; I know everything." Then he added, “I don't have to be here; I don't have autism; it's my brother that has autism. I'm only up here for y'all to find out how smart I am."

Of course, they continued with the testing anyway.

One question asked was, “What is an eyelash?”
Christopher answered, “I know what it is but I don’t know anything to tell you about it.”

Then he was asked what a cow is. The answer was supposed to be something simple like “an

animal” or perhaps “an animal that says ‘Moo.’”
Christopher answered that a cow is “a provider of milk.”

Christopher used to stay with me every weekend. I was disappointed that he continued to depend on his pacifier for bedtime and naps at the age of 2.

So, one weekend, we “accidentally lost” the pacifier. He had to sleep that night without it. He pitched a fit, but finally went to sleep and slept through the night.

The next day, I told him I had talked to his momma and bragged on him, telling her that Christopher was such a big boy now because he could do without his pacifier.

Without missing a beat, Christopher said, “Well, my momma didn’t understand what you were saying!”