Wednesday, 29 August 2012

Unusual language - Sasha isms.

Stephs Two Girls August 29, 2012 PDA, SALT, Sasha isms, speech and language

For the past five years, since the girls were small, I've been meaning to write down all the funny things the girls have said. Some are probably along the lines of what makes every parent giggle, but of course there's never been enough time and the words are all too quickly forgotten.

small 5 year old girl in pink hoody and pink spotty dress, on a field looking up at a telegraph pole

However I couldn't let these following examples go by without noting them. Welcome to the wonderful world of Sasha language.

Sasha's language has improved massively since she was first diagnosed with autism, and I think even those people who say 'but you can't tell she's autistic' would have to agree that she has an unusual turn of phrase sometimes. She's a keen Spanish speaker (she regularly greets her friends with 'Hola, +name') and currently favours the word 'sure' (as in, 'are you happy Sasha? Sure am, mum' or 'it sure is a lovely day today'). I'm not quite sure (no pun intended) where she gets this from, although I wouldn't be surprised if it's from Dora, like the Spanish...

So I have finally started to jot these examples down, more for my own records than anything, as I guess sometimes you just have to BE there to understand why they're so funny. But you never know, they might make amusing reading for one person (a bit like Michael Rosen's poems, which send Tamsin into fits of giggles!). So here goes:

Breakfast time chat:
'I want to help mummy and daddy find a new car.' (we are going to buy a car at some point in the next few weeks, but haven't talked about it for a while)
'OK Sasha, that would be lovely, thank you.'
'My favourite is the one without the top on it.'
Me, laughing 'oh, a convertible you mean?' (no idea where she got that idea from)
'Yes that would be good. But we would get very wet wet wet.'

'Mummy, I love my new trainers SO much that I will NEVER take them off at bedtime.'
Thankfully she forgot about that one.

Standing by the sink, brushing teeth, about to get into bath...
'Mummy, is it night time or day time?'
'Night time, darling.'
'But mummy' shrieks Sasha, 'I don't want to have my hair washed!!'

Conversation at bedtime:
'You've been such a good girl today Sasha, thank you.'
'Have I been really good mummy?'
'Yes, Sasha.'
'So can I go to the chip shop then?'
'Maybe tomorrow.'
'Oh really?'
'Maybe.'
'Have you got enough money?'
Me, laughing, 'maybe!'
'Is that yes, or no, mummy?'
At this point I had to laugh and agree that yes, we have enough money for it, and so Sasha snuggled down for sleep happily.

'Poor Sasha.' (she said with a big sigh at bedtime)
'Oh, why?'
'Everything. I've forgotten all my thinks. And my yes-es and nos and maybes. I'm sad.'

Randomly, in the middle of the afternoon:
'Mummy!'
'Yes Sasha?'
'I love your lunch, but I don't like it.'

At bedtime:
'Mummy, are you feeling alright?'
'Yes Sasha, I'm fine. Are you feeling alright?'
'I'm feeling a little bit alright Mum.' Pause. 'Mu-um, are you feeling a little bit alright?'

On holiday, whilst out one evening:
'Mummy, it's half past bedtime!'

As our two friends were about to leave our house after playing on the DSi with Tamsin:
'Thank you boys for coming to see our new holiday home.'
After they had left the flat:
'They're such nice boys aren't they mummy?'

On our way back in the taxi after our holidays:
'Here we are at the Homeworld!'

Whilst driving home at bedtime:

'Look mum I can hear the moon! Sounds like the clouds are going back to their cloud homes now.'

There will be further updates I'm sure... just wish I'd been writing all of these down from day one!

For more information about PDA, please read the book shown below:

'Understanding Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome in children' *

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(Other PDA books can be found in my

'Books about the Pathological Demand Avoidance profile of autism' review post.)

To find out more about our experiences, please check out our 'About Us' page or the summary of our experience in Our PDA Story Week 35. If you are looking for more online reading about Pathological Demand Avoidance, the posts below may help.