Cursing or Cussing....

My son, Callahan, has Autism and Fragile X Syndrome. If you know anything about Autism, you know that each child with Autism can be very different and very similar to other children with Autism. One of the things that Cal has always done and still does is make sound effects. He can make the most unusual and actually cool noises and words. Cal has always had his own language that can be hard to decipher. He can communicate with us, and he has a fairly large vocabulary as well. He will also make quirky noises and ask his daddy to repeat it which of course he does,and Cal thinks this is absolutely HYSTERICAL and will laugh for days on end at NPayne for imitating Cal's quirky noises. He also says words that don't mean what they sound like they mean. For example, there are two words that he use to always scream say when he was mad....PITCH and SHUT....he only scream said them when he was really mad ! Now imagine with me for a moment....if you will....a fuming mad 5 year old boy with a very limited vocabulary....throwing a tantrum all the while screaming at the top of his lungs....oftentimes in a British accent (don't ask)....PITCH or SHUT, and then imagine if you weren't aware of him having a special need and saw us out in public....what would you think he was screaming? UH HUH....that's exactly what it oftentimes sounded like....like he was calling me a very unkind name and yelling "poop" profanities as well. Now imagine with me for a moment....Cal's first few days of kindergarten....some of the worst days of NPayne's and my parenting experiences....being called in for a conference....you know where this is going, don't ya? Yes I was called in for a conference about a week after kindergarten started, now mind you Cal had the worst first few days of kindergarten that you can imagine. I mean really the worst. When every adult, that came in contact with him, called us and asked the following...."What do we do with him?" you know it's bad! Also keep in mind that when he was much younger, he was much more aggressive and often hit when he was upset. So I go to the conference, and with a smile on her face the first thing out of his special ed. teacher's mouth was...."Cal hit me and called me a @ITCH!" I immediately tried to explain...."Oh no no no he didn't, I promise, he didn't! He may have hit you (like that was acceptable), but he didn't call you a @ITCH, he was just yelling PITCH!" Utter look of confusion, and a little disbelief, on her face! Then I explained that he has his own language and when he gets mad....really mad....he yells PITCH and SHUT, and NPayne and I....well I....never use inappropriate language around him....and he doesn't even know what a @ITCH is or what SH#T is! And we have no idea where he got the words PITCH and SHUT from, and what he thinks they mean either. I think I completley overwhelmed her, but I also convinced her that what I was telling her was in fact the truth; and the next time he got angry and yelled.... she listened really closely and realized that I wasn't just making that up to bail him out. Now fast forward to a week or so ago....Cal hasn't yelled PITCH or SHUT in years....I mean years. His vocabulary has grown so much over the last few years. He still does sound effects and has his own language; but he is also learning to use appropriate words for appropriate situations....like if he's angry, he'll say something like "Callahan was very angry"....he refers to himself by name when describing his feelings. When he doesn't have an answer, he'll oftentimes say "I can't" or "I don't know"! Nonetheless it's sooooooooooooooo much better than screaming at people, or yelling PITCH or SHUT! Anyway about a week ago, we got his folder with his behavior chart in it; and on it his teacher had written...."Cal said SH#T today". She then had written that they talked about inappropriate words. That was all it said. So I emailed her and told her that he use to yell SHUT and PITCH when he was very mad, but he hadn't done that in so long; so maybe he was reverting to some of his former behaviors. She emailed me back and said that she just told him it was inappropriate, didn't make a big deal out of it, and moved on.....oh and by the way....he was laughing when he said it! OUGHT OH.....I thought, and then responded....if he was laughing, maybe he really did say SH#T. HELP ME HENRY....cursing or cussing is the last thing I need to try to explain to him!