“You are not my mother!” King Ben says
“Apologize at once!” I say
“NO!” says the King
“I’ll give you to the count of three. One… Two… THREE!” is my reply
Don’t worry, we’re not fighting. You may even recognize this from the movie Coraline. Ben is scripting. He uses situations from movies to verbalize his thoughts or feelings. I guess he’s still considered non-verbal even though he does talk. He can use whole sentences if it’s part of a script. Or the sentence we taught him when he was about four. “I want _____, please” We wanted him to be able to ask for a juice or the ball or to play. He says this sentence in a kind of sing songy way. When he’s over tired or bored he says it in a whiny voice over & over filling in the blank with whatever we don’t have. But, I digress. (I do this in real life too) Back to scripting. That little piece from Coraline gets acted out every school day when it’s time to get ready. The scene from the movie doesn’t match what’s going on with us but it doesn’t have to be a match. The only thing that matters is the comfort of the predictable routine in the words. Plus the 1,2,3 countdown. He doesn’t use the same scripts all the time. It tends to change with whatever movie he’s favoring at the time. It’s easy for us to play our parts because when he favors a movie it on repeat all day for weeks. He’s eight and in third grade now. I’m hoping that soon he’ll be able to read more words and we can get him a tablet so he can type. I can see his frustration when he’s trying to communicate something and I’m just not getting it. Until that time, we’ll just keep going with the scripts and the few words he has. He’s the King, I’m just his loyal subject. He leads, I follow.
King Ben's Grandma 
you really make me miss the heck out of my grandmother.
we were close. the last girl i kissed, asked about her when we were at a bar. i ran home to get her picture to show her. (its the only picture i have framed.)
love the story. king ben sounds a little like king friday. i bet theres a hint of prince tuesday in there as well.
incidentally, “non-verbal” is kind of a stupid phrase for a kid thats talking– cant we have “semi-verbal” at least? these people would rather be technically right than Meaningfully right… tsk! preaching to the choir im sure.
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I really hate the “non-verbal” too. Uh, hello, do you not hear words coming out of his mouth? I also hate “severely autistic”. Another label slapped on him by “experts”. I just say he is “high support”. Fits in with him being The King. 😜
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oh they cant help it grandma, theyre “Severely Neurotypical” 🙂
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This is so familiar, lol. My favourite game is trying to work out which DVD Tom has been watching based on the quotes he’s using today. 😆 I hope the tablet happens. It’s a big hit in our house. My best wishes to the King and to you. X
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Thanks! There are some quotes we’re still trying to figure out because he does see some little things at school. Just last week while he was doing a YouTube surfing he hit on an ABC song he used to do in preschool. We were so excited… THAT’S what he was trying to say four years ago😂
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I agree! I also have to keep up to date on Declan’s shows to know what he is repeating or what my next line is supposed to be. I too hope the tablet helps!
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