The Tooth of the Matter

Booga had a problem telling us when he had a tooth ache, which was rare. It was generally his baby teeth falling out.

You see, at seven/eight/nine years old when kids who are not intellectually challenged start losing their teeth they think it’s neat. But when that happens in our kids who are intellectually impaired, they freak out because their teeth are loose and they don't know what’s happening. So for Boog's dad and me it was a guessing game. "Okay, is he in real pain or are his teeth coming out because he's getting his permanent teeth?"

He'd point to his teeth and tell us he had a tooth ache, in a way only we could understand-because he had the language skills of a child of three. He could talk to us and a speak in sentences but sometimes the words were slurred (and sometimes they still are) and sometimes the way he had decided they sounded- was totally different than what the word was suppose to sound like to us and so- like a child of three.

And because he doesn't always tell you that something itches or that something is bothering him, you find out in other ways like from his teachers....

"Did you know that he has a rash on his arm?"

"Well, no. He wears long sleeve shirts and since he doesn't let me dress him anymore I don't see his arms."

(I mean seriously...I guess if that is all you do all day-watch behaviors- what kids are doing- then you would see that sort of thing whereas I'm not always looking at him and I don't see him most of the day).

We were always on alert when it came to our other kids getting sick because more than likely he would get sick too. And when he was small it made it really difficult because I was working at a college as a lab assistant in a computer lab at the time and I wasn't always able to get off work. (One of the reasons that I feel blessed that my husband makes it possible for me to stay home now and take care of him).

It does get easier over time and believe me when they are in real pain, you will know. They will make it incredibly clear! Pain is something that even children with Autism will scream about. I mean, you might not be able to talk but you can scream. It's a basic instinct.

Not too long ago Boog woke me up in the morning, which is weird because he never does that. Boog sleeps like a rock (which is the antithesis of what he was like when he was a toddler-he didn't sleep-literally didn't sleep- until he went on medication at the age of three or four) and he woke me up and said, "Mom, I threw up."

(I guess I was just pleased he didn't call me Mrs. Angryman Jameson, which is his non-de-plume for me when he is mad because I have told him to stop stimming or he's being disciplined.)

And to be completely honest, it stunned me because he actually told me he threw up.

When he was little he would throw up and you would find him throwing his dirty clothes down the laundry shoot or trying to hide his pillow under his mattress or something like that. He wouldn't tell you. He'd throw up and then go on with whatever he was doing, he didn't lay down and sleep, it was like he wasn't allowed by his brain to lie down and feel bad or sleep.

But now that he's older he tells me and now, apparently, he’s going to tell me when he is sick and has thrown up. So, that's a good, new development.

Weird hua?

Thank God.