USE YOUR WORDS!!!

Both parents and special needs educators insist that kids and young adults with special needs "use their words" when they need something. So have I. I have worked so hard to get Ben not to whine and groan when he meets with frustration. I want him to say, "I need help!" or something to that effect.

I was in the kitchen, and Ben, at my request, had gone in the laundry room to feed the cats. It was early morning and we were getting ready for work and day program, respectively. I was busy packing lunches for both of us when I heard a groan from the laundry room, followed by "Oh, no, I can't!!", shortly after followed by, "I give up!"

With my learned pedagogical wisdom I interject, loud enough that Ben can hear me, "Ben, if you need my help, please ask me. Use your words."  Well, he was having none of that. I heard continued groans from his quarters, so I decided that he would have to fend for himself until such time as he would request my help using my specified verbal formula.

THEN I heard the crash... just as I zipped up Ben's lunch bag. KA-THUNK! I hurled Ben's Minion lunch bag  in an unspecified direction (and later recovered it between the couch and the wall) and rushed back to the laundry room. Behold my son -- sitting on the floor with the folding door to the laundry-room closet on top of his head. Thankfully he seemed relatively intact and unhurt.

As it happened, a broomstick had gotten stuck between the folding door and the door frame, which resulted in Ben being unable to access the catfood.

When his frustrated exclamations did not produce the coveted help from me, Ben  resolved that additional force was required, force sufficient to open the door. And, one must confess, he was right. An additional pull not only opened the door, it actually removed the door from the door frame.

Yup, I need a new door for that closet. And nope, the cats were not fed.