Interesting piece about laughter in autistic children.. IMO!

[elmosworld]

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Just found this piece as I was wondering why on earth my DS was sat in bed laughing his head off everynight at 2am - I have been through the night terrors so believe me I am so glad it is laughs now not screams!!!

Anyway, I was searching, found this and it actually really really made me smile. I am a bit emotional already so it could just be me lol but thought I'd share it.

The bit that made me smile was:

"If this is so, then the autistic children in this study expressed more positive emotion -more genuine happy affect- in interacting with another person than did the nonautistic children."

So now when DS is doing his contagious, crazy little laugh when we are playing I will know that he is genuinely happy.

Meant to add that the last bit is slightly snotty and ignorant, but hey, that's another moron's stupid opinion: Fake laughter is preferrable to Real Laughter. Hmmm

Not for me. Still happy lol.

i listened to both the 'voiced' and 'unvoiced' laughter from both NT and Autistic.

I found the true belly laugh from the autistic child so much more appealing than the "he he he" type laugh, it just seemed much more happy and genuine.

but perhaps i have a very definate bias on that!

I agree too, i listened to both type of laughter, and the laughter from the autistic child was lovely.
My DS has us in stitches with the way he laughs, such a manic, crazy laughter he has, we all love it.

I can't hear the laughs, since I don't have quicktime on this computer and I'm not letting it near this computer, but this is another area in which both my boys are so different, despite both having autism.

DS2 has the most amazing giggle. It's really infectious and at its most wonderful when he's a bit tired. He literally makes everyone around stop what they're doing and laugh with him. He has been known to giggle in his sleep.

DS1 doesn't really have that same laugh, though. A lot of his laughter is faked and quite often, his only genuine laughter is when he's up to no good. He does get the giggles, occasionally, but not in the same way as DS2.His own humour is very slapstick and surreal, but he's more into expressing real enjoyment with a wry smile than giggles.

I think it's different for all kids anyway but it just happened to make me smile. IMO the autistic children's laughing was far more infectious and I am often in stitches at DS when he is giggling, sometimes it is not ideal for me to be laughing with him though - like when he is chucking stuff in the loo and laughing at the water splashing his face... it takes all my strength to not laugh and tell him off!

DS2 doesn't do the unvoiced laugh but he does get fits of the giggles where he can't stop and it goes way beyond the original cause of the laughter. We have to be careful to wind games down before he gets to this point - you can see when he gets to this slightly hysterical tipping point.

ASD laugh 1 = ds1

asd laugh 2 = ds2

DS4 = asd laugh 2 as well, hoping that is not very conclusive!

Sphil we have the same issue with the boys; atm it's dance rehearsals (well ds1 & ds2 rehearsing, ds3 bounces LOL0 for the carnival season (starts tiomorrow ) that trigger it

It's a no-no if you get there

Hmm, if only they wouldn't do it at completely inappropriate moments like their little brother has just fallen over or their mother has just trapped her finger in the shutter or thebaby is crying!!

Yes. Mine decide to laugh. a LOT! They don't laugh in the same way as other kids, come to think of it.

Mine laugh very much like that last example on the link contained in that article.

Meant to add that I think they just really enjoy the feeling of laughing. The noise it makes. Or something

I think my DS will laugh at anything which he finds remotely funny or when he has a feeling or emotion he does not understand.

I mean, he (like a lot of children with ASD) doesn't show any other facial expression. It's like he can't comprehend what he is feeling. So when something is funny, unusual or interesting, the only way he can show/display his emotion, is to laugh. So he does.

But that is just my DS, When he is nervous, scared or anxious, he does not laugh. He stops dead in his tracks & claws the hell out of my legs. ouch.