Asperger’s and Humor

My son has a great, albeit quirky, sense of humor.

For instance, while reading All the Answers, by Kate Messner, the narrator is afraid of a math test. She says, “Death by linear equations.” My son’s note? They do have arrows on the ends.

I am teaching about poetry in my Teaching Language Arts class. In sharing some of the joke sites, he found this one to be hilarious: What is brown and sticky?
A stick. He’s smiling now just reading this (over my shoulder).

And the social media post about funny answers on tests? This one. Note, when math is involved, to him it’s even funnier.

(He would like us to know that the real answer is “a” to the nth power plus “b” to the nth power.)

He also loves physical comedy. An episode of “America’s Funniest Home Video’s” will reduce him to tears.

Sometimes, though, what he thinks is funny are things that are immature (especially for his age). He will play with words to the frustration of the speaker. For instance, when given directions such as hold on for a minute, he will grab hold of the nearest object and pretend to cling to it for dear life. He knows not to interpret things literally. He just thinks its funny to act out the meaning in its extreme form.

Other times, he actually sounds rude when he is trying to play with words. We try to give him feedback about what it sounds like to others. This makes him feel badly for “making a mistake,” which is an extreme interpretation of his trying to be funny. We don’t want this either.

Suffice it to say that we are happy that he is funny (sometimes) and enjoys funny things. I appreciate his sense of humor, especially when he laughs. I love to hear his laugh.