Greetings from...

I have a little guy recently officially diagnosed with ASD. This was no big surprise since I had him last year too and we pretty much all saw it. He is such a funny little guy! He's got curls to die for, looooooves to sing & doesn't so much walk anywhere as he does hop.

Well he now has a new cute factor; his personalized greetings for each person at school.

He has separate greetings for each of my EAs (J & C), his bus driver, myself & our Speech Therapist (D).

J: "Blech!" as he he sticks out his tongue emphatically.

C: "Stop!" as he puts up his hand.

D: "Errrr!" as he squeezes himself in a big hug.

Myself: "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!"

Bus Driver: "Ah choo!" as he makes a very convincing fake sneeze.

I'm not joking. This is how he greets each of these people every day, possibly multiple times a day if they leave & come back again. Now to you this probably seems extremely odd, perhaps even downright weird. But knowing him as I do I know why he greets each person that way & it actually makes perfect sense!

J: Is always telling him to take toys/clothes/books out his mouth by telling him "Out of mouth. Blech, yucky."

C: Every day reads his favourite book with him that tells us the way to be a Super Friend. "Stop & think, what would a Super Friend do?"

D: He loves getting big bear hugs from D each time he sees him.

Bus Driver: He loves the way she says "Bless You!" every time he sneezes.

Myself: All last year I worked with him on greeting people by looking at them & saying "Hi".

I guess what I'm trying to say is, context and relationship is EVERYTHING! Never, ever forget that. Outside of a caring relationship his behaviour would seem completely unusual, worrisome and honestly, probably annoying. But in the context of understanding his personality, medical diagnosis, like/dislikes, interests, etc. it makes perfect, awesome sense.