Can a ASD child have such a sense of humour?

[Suzyinlalaland]

I have a DD who's 4 and we have not yet had a diognosis for ASD, but we're heading in that direction.

I have posted a lot about my DD recently, but I forgot to mention what a wicked sense of humour she has. I have obviously done loads of research since all this came to light, but I hear that children with ASD don't tend to understand humour, certainly not of the sarcastic variety.

I know she is behind in many things. Mainly her social skills and she does have several autistic syptoms. However, the really striking styptoms such as imaginative play and routine she doesn't have and obviously the main one was the sense of humour. For example she finds it hillarious if I pretend i'm someone else or if I put a pillow up my jumper and announce "I ate all the pies!!". Just using that one as an example, as that was what she was laughing at this morning.

I know it might sound like a strange question, but does this make sense to anyone.

AFAIK a dx would be based on having the triad of impairments. There is no one criteria which would either rule ASD in or out. So in short I think a child can have a wicked sense of humour and still have ASD.

My DD loves slapstick humour, falling over, burping and is amazed when things are 'wrong'...like putting trousers on your head! Sometimes she has to have it explained a bit...that its not wrong in a bad way but a funny way but she does have a sense of humour! :)

Well this obviously was not what I wanted to hear, but as I know it's such a broad spectrum, I was expecting it. It's just everything I read suggested it was incredibly rare.

I know this is going off the subject a bit, but my heart broke this morning when I dropped her off at pre school. I notice more and more how other children look at her. I know I have to just switch off and not think about that, but as the funny looks are increasing, i'm finding it impossible not to shed a few tears in the car on the way home. I know the children don't know any better, but it just hurts so much. It doesn't seem to bother my daughter though.

Just looking for a bit of reassurance I suppose. Very teary again today.

my daughter has a terriffic sense of humour.
but she finds things funny that others dont usually find funny.
she doesnt really understand other peoples humour though.
ive also noticed that she finds it hillarious if im not happy about something.
eg-last night i was laying on the sofa[my legs werent working]and my phone was ringing-
i was tutting and saying"im not ansering it"-
but it kept ringing-so i relucanty got up to anser it-
by this time she was on the floor with laughter-not because the phone kept ringing but because i was fed up.

i went spataciccally flying over a box the other day aswell-the tears of laughter fell down her face.

she laughs longer and louder than what would be usually expected of someone aswell.
so yep-she has a sense of humour-just not the same as others.
mind you-her laughter is very contagious

my child is a lot older than youres and when she was younger she didnt have a sense of humour.

Sense of humour? Yes, absolutely. Slapstick usually, funny faces, spoonerisms or word play and Tom & Jerry cartoons.

Afraid this belief about a lack of humour is either a myth or misguided generalisation. Another one is that ASD children can't possibly tell lies or keep secrets from their parents.

AWW suzy...I just think of the looks situation as they are looking because DD is so pretty/loud!...and they are just curious...kids arent as judgy pants as adults...they just want to question life....to understand...if only parents did!

DD does tend to pick small details to laugh at and then obsess over..other than that it has to be obvious...falling, accidents etc. She has empathy too..will comfort crying DCs or insist Mums pick up crying babies! She doesnt get sarcasm...just tries to correct me or takes it literally.

Hope you feel better....have a cuppa! :)

Suzyinlalaland My DS has a sense of humour but it does tend to be based on visual things (slapstick being something which makes him laugh but not me). As he has got older he has progressed to word based humour as well.
There are plenty of examples of people with ASD having a sense of humour but it is likely to be a bit quirky or unique to them.

Yes ds is very slapstick too and word play.

He told a 'joke' just the other day. Making pizza dough, my middle ds told me not to knead the dough too much or it would "break up". Ds replied "i didnt know dough has a girlfriend"

He even has a little bit of learned sarcasm "you are so funny......not" which he has picked up from his older brothers.

He can pretend "oh look there is a spider on your head" when there isnt.

He is also very good at imaginative play ie he can pretend a pencil is a sword and little men talk to each other etc, etc. Its 'shared' imaginative play that he has difficulties with. He will either be very rigid and you have to do it his way or he will just go along with your idea without having any ideas of his own.

He will still be your ds with or without ASD :)

My ds has a wicked sense of humour and as he has got older he can spot sarcasm and irony and very subtle humour as well.
His favourite shows are Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You and he laughs heartily at them.
When he was younger he enjoyed slapstick humour and word play too so it has always been there even though ds has quite significant autism.

My ds (8) doesn't have an ASD dx yet. He definitely has a sense of humour though. He loves to make people laugh and we have encouraged this, as it can be such a powerful social tool with his peer group. He has countless jokebooks and is currently into Dennis the Menace and the Beano, which he finds hilarious and also gives him something in common with the other boys in his year. (Before that it was Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes, but they got dropped when some of the other boys told him they were for babies. )

We have worked with him to help him recognise sarcasm and humour in others and now when we joke, if he doesn't 'get it', he rolls his eyes and says "Mummeeeee/Daddeeee, you are joking again aren't you? You joker you!" Which is huge progress, as he just used to get really cross with us.

He does still frequently try to correct us if we use sarcasm, but more and more he will ask us whether or not we are being sarcastic before he gets cross.

I wouldn't describe him as having empathy, but he understands that tears/crying = unhappiness and wants to fix whatever is wrong. This isn't universal though, its mainly reserved for his baby sister or his best friend, both of whom he is fiercly protective of. He can still be really horrid to myself and his brother and make us cry without reacting, until someone points out that we are crying - then he gets upset that he's upset us iyswim. We have worked on this by trying the "Do you remember when x happened to you and how you felt then? Well that's how X is feeling now." approach.

I know loads of people with an ASD and nearly all of us have a completely mad sense of humour. A lack of humour is definitely not one of the diagnostic questions.

ds1 (severely autistic) had a great sense of humour. He particularly likes to pretend to do 'naughty' things. You are right though- the literature does refer to a lack of humour. But if you look at how they test humour/joking ability you might not be surprised at the findings/

DS1(6) has a really highly developed sense of the ridiculous, so laughs at all the same things. You wouldn't believe how much mirth a banana on the head (Timmy Time) or a bananaphone (Zingzillas) generates in this house. DS2(4) is beginning to show similar traits, though not as highly developed as DS1 was at the same age, though DS2 has a much more severe language delay than DS1, which would account for some of the difference. He loves visual humour, though - his latest is giggling hysterically at the book "Liam goes Poo in the Toilet" (in which Liam eats and eats and his tummy gets fuller and bigger and he eventually needs a poo) and he even broke away from his usual non-verbal self by excitedly shouting "Eat it!" while he was flicking through the pages.

DS1 is beginning to "get" jokes which use wordplay (eg of the "what do you call a man with a spade on his head?" variety) and is highly amused when words are transposed or we use spoonerisms, so as his language has developed, it's become a lot more than just visual slapstick for him.

DS also has a sense of humour. He laughs his head off saying 'my bum!!' when he does pop off because i pretend to die from the smell. LOL

There are other bettet examples but can't think of them atm.

My son (14 now, so I'm geting a bit vague about his behavious at 4) is a gentle, witty, kindly being, when he's not being an infuriating teenage grunt-fest.

He'll do something typically teenagery, realise that I'm about to lecture him on it, and then deadpan, 'Yeah, but it's cos I is autistic, innit, so it's not MY fault.'

DS has a great sense of humour and it's also something that made me wonder when he was being dxd. Like others on here, he loves slapstick but also does a lot of playing with words.

He gets sarcasm too, which seems to be more unusual for those with AS.

It's something that's commented on by everyone who's worked with him, in fact it's noted on his statement as humour is a key method of bringing him around when he feels anxious/upset. I think his humour also helps people warm to him, which is just as well because he's a lot of hard work the rest of the time .

Ds has a grand sense of humour.. It's a bit nutty but still it's there!

Loves slap stick humour.. ( which can be a downside if someone has actually hurt themselves though).

He's not great on sarcasm ( although though has learnt a bit from ds1.. But will always follow up any sarcatic comment he makes with" I'm being sarcastic")

the best thing ever though is his manic laughter at a joke that starts after eveyone elses giggles have finished.. He is nearly always the last to get a joke but will laugh the hardest. :o

Yup Ds is a joker.

I've been doing things 'wrong' for aaaaaages to illicit a response from him. I still sometimes put pants on my head to make him giggle...

My DH's auntie who is, erm, kinda mutton dressed a lamb, got pointed at by DS who said 'Cruella De Vil' and promptly slapped her ar$e. She does, in fact, look like Cruella (and always has a fag 'on'). Luckily she laughed like a drain. Phew!!

He loves You've Been Framed and Tom and Jerry.

ds2 has a great sense of humour, in fact we can often defuse an anxious situation by making a joke out of something.
He is also a big torment!

Ds and dd have just illustrated that they both have a sense of humour perfectly.
Ds was asking dd what she thought of a teacher in her school called Mrs Leakey.
Dd in a deadpan voice said "she's a bit of a drip"
Cue hysterical laughter from them both

My DS (severe asd, sld and adhd) has a fab sense of humour, he is very sarcastic with it, he can also be a wind up.

oh yes, mine both have amazing senses of humour! Big fans of the practical joke

They haven't got the hang of punchlines for knock-knock jokes and will say something like

knock knock
who's there
cartoon
cartoon who
cartoon network

and then piss themselves laughing

but they laugh a lot, and find a lot of things very funny and can be very sharp too.

eg ds2 was being a pain in the car, demanding that we say this, say that, say the other. Clearly pissed ds1 off too, because he piped up "Daddy, say goodbye to X" I thought that was very clever.

they like to pop out from behind things to scare you, love to tease you...

And you have never heard such uninhibited, joyous laughter from anyone in your life!

Yes, my DS has a brilliant sense of humour. He gets slapstick, spoonerisms and all sorts of subtleties of language. Like anon we often diffuse situatoins with humour. He can also lie and flatter people, so don't believe all the generalisations