Autism Phenomenon's

How do you say "Come Play"?
At our house most of us use our words to ask someone to play with us, BUT for the Rock he doesn't have the words accessible yet so he'll hit us on the knee, pull our hand to where he wants to go, growl then run away or bring the play toy to one of us. He's definitely learning by our example of how we play with him, the growling might be my favorite.


Over the years therapists have asked about using pictures for him to show us what he wants to do, but that never seemed to work. This last year, school started signing most of what they say and from there the Rock has learned how to understand a few sign language signs. So now when we sign the words he knows he understands what we want him to say. This is one of the most fascinating things to me. I don't get how he knows what we want him to say, but that the words won't come naturally yet.

The Rock knows where we are at all times!
All we have to do is go somewhere once and it seems the Rock knows where we are at all times. If I make the wrong turn (from where the Rock wants to go) the Rock starts screaming. I have to tell him before we leave where we're going so he knows what to expect but that doesn't always mean I'm going the "right" way.
Last week we were driving home from a water park an hour away from our home (we'd been to this place the week before), when we left I turned a different way than before and boy did I hear it. I couldn't believe that we were an hour from home and he knew which way to go to get home. I hope this comes in handy one day.

One day it clicks
We have been working on the Rock dressing himself for about a year and he never showed much interest in it and I was not sure he had the fine motor skills to do it. Well one morning HeMan goes to get the Rock ready for school and to his surprise there is the Rock fully dressed (shirt backwards) in school clothes. We were both shocked! Nothing different had happened the day before, it just seems that when the Rock wants something he does it and when he doesn't want it he won't do it.

See's more than we know
The Rock likes to stand on top of the AC unit in the backyard while it's running to feel the wind and watch paper/ribbons blow. I hate him on top of the AC unit so I started turning it off. One day the Rock pulled me by the hand out to the AC unit and put my hand on it (I assume asking for it to work), I ignored the gesture and took him to do something else. A few minutes later he went off to do something else and I went to the kitchen. Along comes the Rock to the hallway and climbs on a table and starts pushing the thermostat buttons. I put him on the floor and off he goes outside to the AC unit, as I can only assume as to see if it's on after pushing the buttons. HOW does he understand that? No one showed him that the thermostat inside makes the AC unit outside work. HOW can he understand that and not the simple words and commands?

These are just some of the Autsim Phenomenon's that have happened lately. What ones have you encountered?