A Really Useful Engine

Although I seem to have gotten up on the wrong side of the proverbial bed this morning…although I wasn’t in the best mood due to life’s little foibles and frustrations…although I chose the exact wrong time to try to discuss a thorny issue with my teenager (earning a painful criticism from my husband to boot)…

My sweet little Stephen was in a bright and happy mood this morning, cheerful and smiling from the moment his eyes opened.  He laughed and uttered his trademark “digga digga” sound, which is code for “all is right in my world,” as he danced around the living room waiting for his bus.

Needless to say, it’s always a good and joyful thing for Stephen to start the day off thusly.  And as I sit here in my cubicle, trying feebly to get some work done, I decided that I’d try to relate something quite interesting that David noticed a while back.  It’s encouraging and a little bittersweet, and it bears repeating here.

I’ve mentioned many times the love Stephen has for Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends.  This love of Thomas is apparently very common amongst kids with autism – the movement, the repetition, the sing-songy words and phrases.  Stephen will often get on YouTube, find some favorite Thomas videos, and for long stretches of time he will rewind and play the same sentences over and over and over and over: “’Ohhh,’ screamed the cars. ‘Grrrrr,’ growled Diesel, and he scuttled away to sulk in the shed.”  We’re talking hundreds of repetitions of this section of video.  Stephen can look away from the monitor and purely by feel, with a flick of the mouse button, he can pinpoint the spot multiple times without fail.  But what David noticed was that Stephen will play it a few times, then he will repeat the phrases.  Sure, it’s in “Stephen-ese,” but when you hear the video right before Stephen speaks, you can tell he’s repeating it.  Thomas’ Custom Speech Therapy Services, available right in your home, for the low, low price of an internet connection.

As if that weren’t helpful enough, we’ve also noticed that Stephen is trying to use the phrases he’s learning as a means to really communicate.

In the middle of a recent tantrum over a choppy internet connection, as he emitted his squeals and screams, Stephen was unmistakably saying, “Help! Help!  I can’t stop.  I CAN’T STOP!”  Yes, sure, in the video it’s James or Percy, out of control on the tracks with runaway coaches…but…  Stephen has now on more than one occasion used these words when he’s having a hard time.  Coincidence?

Another time we were in the car in the midst of a thunderstorm.  It started hailing.  The noise was loud, strange, and totally unexpected.  Stephen covered his ears and said, “Whatever is HAPPENING?”  Thomas says that, I think, when he encounters something on the tracks.  Just a fluke?

Just this past Saturday, again with internet problems, Stephen said, “Oh, no!  I’m in trouble!”  Yes, another quote from a video…but…is that ALL it is?

We are inclined to think that’s NOT all it is.  Somehow Stephen is learning, through these videos and books, that those phrases convey certain things, and it seems to help him to use those same phrases to try to communicate with us.  Frankly, we’ll take it.  We are used to trading bits of dialogue with him just for fun, so why not use the phrases he knows and loves to try to help him understand?  I tried an experiment on Saturday.  He was cranky and agitated about something, and I looked him in the eye and said, “All right, don’t fuss!  All right, don’t fuss!” just like Annie and Clarabel say to Thomas.

You know what?

He stopped.  Just for a little bit, but he DID stop fussing.  As with so many other parts of our life, we’ll just roll with this and see where it goes.  In case you were wondering, though?  We can confirm that Thomas IS a really useful engine.