Quoting Capt Underpants books in class
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| Mon, 09-11-2006 - 7:20pm |
Back when David was in Kindergarten, he got some "Captain Underpants" books for a gift, and read them. He became obsessed with it, and drove everyone crazy by repeating all the gross stuff ad nauseum. It was really too much, so I put the books up in a closet and "banned" them.
Well, he has matured quite a bit, and we have slowly allowed "Captain Underpants" and company back into our lives. A few weeks ago, David found me previewing the "Dav Pilkey" website, and I foolishly let him have a go at some of the games. He has been doing everything "Dav Pilkey" for the past few weeks. He's still obsessed with Legos and Bionicles, but the Dav Pilkey stuff is a new, additional obsession. He's only focusing on the gross stuff, of course. He has memorized the obnoxious cartoon videos on the website, along with all the little crude things the characters say during games.
We do limit it the computer time, but I have a hard time telling him he can't draw pictures or sit and quietly read a book. I'm much rather that he read something more intellectually challenging, though. (Like I say, he was reading C.U. when he was 5.)
So, today, when I picked him up from school, I poked my nose into the classroom to say hi to the teacher. She told me that they had just had a little talk about "appropriate vs. inappropriate" things to say in class. Apparently he has been disrupting the class by calling out toilet humor stuff. I told her I was pretty sure it was C.U. quotes, and that this is a very typical Asperger's thing...although I hate having "Asperger's" conversations in front of him. She wasn't sure what I meant, and I briefly said I was talking about both A) fixating on a particular topic, and B) not differentiating between appropriate and inappropriate. What I didn't say, but I know she knows, is that David is very bright, and he KNOWS that stuff is "inappropriate." Later on, I asked him to tell me which things are appropriate to say in the classroom, and I gave a few examples. I made a comment about math, a comment about a playground scenario, and a Pilkey-esque comment about the texture of boogers. He KNEW that one was inappropriate, but it made him laugh so much he was rolling on the floor. His problem isn't that he doesn't KNOW the difference. His problem is that he can't keep his thoughts to himself. In the words of Rev. Lovejoy's daughter to Bart Simpson, "Do you ever think anything that you *don't* say?" If he has something on his mind, it's VERY hard for him to keep it to himself. (BTW, I wouldn't DREAM of letting David watch "The Simpsons". He watches zero commercial TV.)
There is a new "full inclusion" program at his school, and he goes there in the afternoons. His 3rd grade teacher (the one I was just talking with) said she'll bring up the subject with the full inclusion teacher. I hope that teacher understand that this is an AS thing, with her alleged expertise on ASD's. I don't know her well enough to know if I can count on that.
In an attempt to show that I'm a reasonably competent parent, I told the teacher that we'd limit the access to the Dav Pilkey stuff if we continued to hear about the inappropriate stuff at school, yadda yadda. Thank goodness that's a genuine possibility. We couldn't limit access to Lego stuff without a major overhaul of our family lifestyle and the way our house is arranged. Still, I know that even if he's not allowed to look at the books or the website, he has *already* committed it all to memory. Even as we were having the discussion, he was quoting stuff.
BTW, the Captain Underpants books are proudly sold at every Scholastic Book Fair, at school.
Evelyn
David (8.5, AS)
Nathan, 5

Ahhh Captain Underpants.. I know him well.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Captain. On one hand, it's one of a few fiction book series that Ryan is actually interested enough to read. He usually prefers non-fiction, like the eye witness books. Ryan has always been a good reader, but I worried that he was just decoding the words, and not understanding what they meant. I used the CU books to make sure that he was comprehending what he read. I would have him retell the story to me after he read the book. But I was worried that the potty talk would turn up in class, church, other inappropriate times. For the most part it hasn't. Actually, I use the books as an example of what is appropriate and inappropriate, and fiction vs non-fiction. I go over stuff like this lot, what is ok to say in school, vs what is not, what is funny, what is not funny.. and go over and over and over. And I feel like I will be doing this for awhile. But eventually some of it does sink in.
Re the "inclusion teacher".. this sort of sounds like the "autistic support teacher" in my district, and she should be aware of this aspect of AS. My ds sees her about 3 times a week, and the appropriate vs inappropriate stuff is the major focus of her work with him. By appropriate, I mean alot of different things.. personal space, volume when speaking with someone, tone of voice, rude vs not rude, respect in school, conversations, I could go on and on.
I also visited the Dav Pilkey website, and the bio of him was pretty interesting.. seems he had a few issues growing up. I think it kind of softened me about books.. not sure if that was good or bad.
Kate
I've been thinking about this issue since my little talk with the teacher, and I think the problem isn't so much that he lacks an understanding of appropriate vs. inappropriate, as that he has tremendous difficulty restraining himself.
I don't know if this is what other parents of aspies experience, and I know each kid is different, but this is how it seems to me. David often feels SO compelled to do something or to talk about something, that he absolutely can't bear not to. Just today, after school, he was trying to quote some Dav Pilkey website at me. I was literally walking away, saying, "I've heard it already. Don't say it." He couldn't help himself. This has been such a huge issue in our family since, well, since he could talk, which was pretty early. Other times it's not a thing he needs to say, but a thing he needs to do, usually something creative right at bedtime, or five minutes before it's time to leave for school.
This is the stuff that makes me look like a bad mom, because no one understands. Let's say he's going to be late for school because he can't resist the urge to draw a cartoon at 7:55. I look like a pushover if I "let him" draw the cartoon. On the other hand, he looks like a manipulative baby if I "don't let him" and he refuses to get into the car for the next half hour. At the core of it all, though, which nobody sees, is a whole lot of anxiety. I think he's got a fear that somehow he won't be okay unless he does the thing that he has the urge to do. Like, if I have an idea and I don't express it, then it'll be lost forever, and maybe I'll never think of a wonderful thing like that again. I think it's the same basic thing with the neverending quotes and scripting.
So I'm thinking that what he really needs, in order to "Soar to Excellence" (our school motto, which the principal is being so enthusiatic about lately), is lots of help in learning to control his urges, and to understand that he'll be okay if he leaves some things unsaid.
So, what do you all think? I'm feeling like this explains our situation pretty well, but does it ring true for any of you? Or is it way out there?
Evelyn
the part about having to say or do something I definately see as true for Kyle. (btw, he loves CU too. Just finished re-reading one.) I don't see anxiety underlying it though. Who knows, maybe its there & I just don't see it. Kyle is constantly telling us someting he thinks is the funniest thing in the world (that he saw on TV) or asking us to come and see it. If we say no he'll beg or just tell us anyway. If he wants to do something and we say no he'll cry or stomp around and slam doors. But he's always been a really compliant kid. So if it were right before school and we said no, its time to go, he'd get in the car. Dd on the other hand...If she had full blown AS I think she'd be just like David. She's my anxiety kid so that makes sence.
You know your description of him feeling like he won't be ok if he doesn't do something is just like OCD.
Samantha
Sometimes i wonder if giving the kid a choice between 2 items may help. When Josh gets to a point where he is really misbehaving badly or is so fixated on something that nothing else matters I give him a choice. Either stop misbehaving or you will lose such and such. Or fixation on lets say... wanting to go to the video store to by a game for his gamecube or going for ice cream with the rest of us. When I know he could do both and he becomes fixated on the game. He choices the game and says no to the ice cream. Well he got his game but the rest of us got Ice cream afterwards. But Josh didn't. Not happy there but I think he got the hint.
Not all choices are good or bad but still it is your choice.
Rina
This behavior is exactly what my son does.I can sit and watch a movie with him and he still comes back later and tells me word for word what was in the movie.When I tell him I know what was in the movie because I watched it with him its like he doesnt even hear me and just keeps on telling me till he gets to the end.My son uses his store of information as a coping mechanism.If he is stressed and you try to talk to him about whats wrong before he calms down he will just start spouting facts about all kinds of subjects.We went through the Captain Underpants phase but he just discovered ancient Egypt so hopefully we wont be hearing about Captain Underpants for a while.With our son whatever he is thinking is what he is saying.We've had repeated talks about the right things to say but so far it hasnt stuck.We just keep repeating the same things to him and accept him as he is.He is a great kid and has a lot of interesting things to say, he just doesnt care if you want to hear them or not.Lots of luck on your CUquotes.
Belinda