Clayton Did It

Clayton Did It
By Kimberly Jensen

"Clayton did it" my youngest son yelled as he dashed by me and ran up the stairs. I walked into the kitchen and on the stove was a pot full of water, dashed with a little salt and pepper and a big spoon. The water was still whirling around in the pot as I wondered what Bennett was up to now. It looked like he was either cooking something or creating a small waterpark in our kitchen for his Legos. There was at least an inch of water on the stove, on the countertop and at least a gallon on the floor. I have to smile at his creativity in role playing a chef I'm sure he saw in a cartoon. We were told children with autism can't role play or be creative. At the same time we were also told that children with autism can't lie or decieve. Well, I don't know if he knows that blaming his brother is deceitful or a downright lie, but he does it well and he does it often. For the first couple of times he called out, "Clayton did it!" we quickly reprimanded Clayton for well, doing "it," no matter what "it" was. It couldn't have been our sweet little, innocent autistic boy. But we have learned quickly that when Bennett yells "Clayton did it!" Clayton is very often not in the same room, house or even in the neighborhood. So whenever anything goes awry in our household, we come to the same conclusion everytime, "Clayton did it!" My oldest son now finds the humor in being blamed for everything and can even play it to his advantage knowing that when someone yells "Clayton did it!" it was obviously Bennett, or was it?