Teen Autism

The Scene: A history-loving, trivia-quoting autistic teen is showing his mother the two-dollar bill that his grandmother gave him for Easter. He had just recently watched National Treasure, one of his favorite movies, for probably the twentieth time, so he is full of US history trivia, both from the movie and from research he has done on his own for his Obsession of the Week. The mother, and other extended family members, are accustomed to the autistic teen being a storehouse of information, especially about history and movies, and will often consult his expertise to settle a dispute or answer a question. The guy knows his stuff. And he often likes to quiz his family members on the trivia to see what they know. So he shows his mother the two-dollar bill, pointing out all the Mason symbols and the two different presidents on it, etc.

Autistic teen: Look at this painting on the back. Do you know what it is?

Mother: It looks like the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Autistic teen: That’s right. And do you know who painted it?

Mother: No.

Autistic teen (pauses): Neither do I.

Mother (trying not to laugh): YOU don’t know?

Autistic teen (smiling slightly): I can’t possibly know everything.

This entry (Permalink) was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Nigelisms, Obsessions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.