the_legend_of_the_lost_boy crOwl today at the ski school we had a 7 year-old autistic boy who found it self pleasing to go around to the other students, get in their faces, and blatantly proclaim, "SHUT YOUR DIRTY PIEHOLE!" perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if he obeyed me and the other teachers when we tried to inform him it was offensive, mean, and inappropriate, but telling an autistic boy anything is not always going to sink in unless he is willing to listen. i'm no expert on autism, but i've been around a few and unfortunately their other-world mentality and difficulty to socialize will reach the fragile state that i'm about to tell you. what does an animal do to one of its own kind that is injured, handicapped, or acting unusual? kill it? possibly...at least try to violently remove it from the group. and that's exactly what the other kids did. three of the boys went up to him individually and tried to get him to stop, first verbally, and when that wouldn't work, they simply pounded him. granted, that's not the way to deal with it, but these are 5-7 year-old kids at the basic, emotional level. you can't blame them. i thought it was fascinating. anyway, i ended up being the one chosen to instruct him privately outside. we always take them to the restroom first and when he got into the stall, he pulled down the plastic door of the diaper changer on the wall and discovered the term, "do not leave the child unattended" in several languages. without hesitation, the genius part of his autism kicked in and he proceeded to tell me what each language was, all of them correct. seconds later, he was snorting like a pig several different ways and then explained to me who the pigs were and what they were wearing. he turned out to be an awesome skier. however, the entire lesson was in a quasi-fantasy mode, which was fine with me. we have a slope at seven springs called, "lost boy," and of course he knew that and wanted me to tell him the "legend of the lost boy." sure... 060319 what's it to you? who go blather from