Amanda_Bennett
New member
First a little background my my brother...He is 23 (24 in Feb.) diagnosed with Autism/Aspergers syndrome when he was 3, very high level functioning. Graduated High School with honors in math AND creative writing (BOTH sides of the brain? who does that?) NOT a social person, unless it's on the internet with his computer gaming friends. Mom and I have joked for years that we (being his primary care givers with his father choosing to not be in his life much) have had to go back to school to raise him! When he does choose to have conversations with us we end up running to google to find the definitions of what he just told us!
When he was younger, life with him was like watching the movie "Rainman" everything was done on a time schedule (wake up ate 6, breakfast at 7, lunch at 12, dinner at 5) Jeopardy was on TV at dinner time and we always joked if we could only get him on that show he would win big time! Seriously from about 6 years old he got the majority of the "questions" right! He still watches it and gets the answers before the contestants do!
He has met Zilla a total of 3 times now, yesterday being the 3rd. Mom dropped him off here so she could do some shopping, since he doesn't do stores and crowds well. He did his usual "hug" Simon (Simon HATES being picked up, but allows this one kid to do whatever he wants to with him) then it was Sassy's turn, and she loves his hugs.
I was still working so he sat in my recliner with Zilla on her play stand next to him. I heard him start talking to her, and she started making some little noises at him! Pretty soon they were having a full blown "conversation". She has only ever done this with me and usually will go back to her cage and make herself as small and be as quiet as she can, almost always hiding behind a toy and "peeking" out at the new person in the room. That's what she did the last 2 times he was here, but not this time.
After about 20 minutes of this I peeked around the corner to see what was going on and she was on his arm! Just sitting there "chatting" with him! She would listen when he was talking and turn her head a bit sideways like she was understanding everything, then she would chatter a bit, then wait for him to talk some more, then chatter. This is the first time I have seen her voluntarily step onto anyone but me! He had no treats to bribe her with, just conversation (which was about his online video games and the guys he plays them with) Whatever game it was, Zilla now knows how to play and what character everyone is!
I'm still just amazed at that couple of hours of watching and listening to them together! I know animals have a deep understanding of different people and seem to know he is different than "most" people, I've seen that his whole life with all the animals we have had. He has 2 cats of his own, I've watched him with my cats Sassy and Simon who always let him do things they would never let anyone else do (even me)
I just wasn't expecting Zilla to take to him so quickly or be so loving with him, especially with me in another room out of her sight. She is truly an AMAZING bird!
When he was younger, life with him was like watching the movie "Rainman" everything was done on a time schedule (wake up ate 6, breakfast at 7, lunch at 12, dinner at 5) Jeopardy was on TV at dinner time and we always joked if we could only get him on that show he would win big time! Seriously from about 6 years old he got the majority of the "questions" right! He still watches it and gets the answers before the contestants do!
He has met Zilla a total of 3 times now, yesterday being the 3rd. Mom dropped him off here so she could do some shopping, since he doesn't do stores and crowds well. He did his usual "hug" Simon (Simon HATES being picked up, but allows this one kid to do whatever he wants to with him) then it was Sassy's turn, and she loves his hugs.
I was still working so he sat in my recliner with Zilla on her play stand next to him. I heard him start talking to her, and she started making some little noises at him! Pretty soon they were having a full blown "conversation". She has only ever done this with me and usually will go back to her cage and make herself as small and be as quiet as she can, almost always hiding behind a toy and "peeking" out at the new person in the room. That's what she did the last 2 times he was here, but not this time.
After about 20 minutes of this I peeked around the corner to see what was going on and she was on his arm! Just sitting there "chatting" with him! She would listen when he was talking and turn her head a bit sideways like she was understanding everything, then she would chatter a bit, then wait for him to talk some more, then chatter. This is the first time I have seen her voluntarily step onto anyone but me! He had no treats to bribe her with, just conversation (which was about his online video games and the guys he plays them with) Whatever game it was, Zilla now knows how to play and what character everyone is!
I'm still just amazed at that couple of hours of watching and listening to them together! I know animals have a deep understanding of different people and seem to know he is different than "most" people, I've seen that his whole life with all the animals we have had. He has 2 cats of his own, I've watched him with my cats Sassy and Simon who always let him do things they would never let anyone else do (even me)
I just wasn't expecting Zilla to take to him so quickly or be so loving with him, especially with me in another room out of her sight. She is truly an AMAZING bird!
