Scene from Literacy Narrative

Since me and Tom were “irish twins” there was never a moment he wasn’t around. Communicating with Tom is its own language in itself. He is hard to understand unless you are native to this dialect, so to speak. Instead of saying “I’d like a hamburger with french fries, a large diet coke, and some ketchup on the side, please”. It was more of “hamburger now please Ellie. Yes? Yes okay.” Tom answers his own questions so “yes?” would dignify “is that okay ” and “yes okay” would just mean “yes”. In order to understand Tom, you had to know him. I knew when he asked for a hamburger it included a drink, fries, and dipping sauce. That is probably the trickiest part of communicating with Tom. Interpreting what he is saying is a challenge unless you are with him most of the day. While Tom doesn’t say a lot, he is very smart and picks up on what we are saying. No, this doesn’t mean I can talk to Tom about calculus and physics, but I can tell him when it’s time to take a bath, eat, play, be quiet, speak… just some examples. He knows the difference between right and wrong, that’s isn’t a problem. The problem is saying it in a way he will understand.