Autism vs. AIDS

After a little backstory, you will read a most amazing conversation that happened in my class today.

One of the boys from 103/104 is coming to kindergarten music once a week with room 102. Today I had 102 without J. I asked the kids how having J in class went and if they had any questions. Most of the kids really liked having him there and getting to help him be a great student. Though one child had a question. E asked, "Why does he make faces and noises?" This was what happened after that:

Me: He does that because he has autism.
E: What is autism?
Me: (to the class) When most of you have thoughts you can say them out loud. J has tons of thoughts in his head, but he doesn't know how to share them. Remember how he kept shushing me when I would sing? I think he was trying to tell me that he wanted to listen to the cd, but didn't know how to say it.

(JC raises his hand)
JC: Is autism a disease?
Me: I think it's a disorder...
JC: Oh, never mind, I was thinking of AIDS.


It is the first time I have ever laughed because of AIDS and I'm sure it will probably be the last. But seriously? A 6 year old...

When I told JC's mom what he said, her response was, "No more NPR in the car..."

peace.

PS I am going to go through and change all the kids names in previous posts for privacy reasons. If a child strikes you and you want to pray for that child, let me know and I can pass on the prayer needs...but other than that I need to respect the privacy of others...