There have been posts here about inappropriate laughter. My own son laughs inappropriately from time to time, too. But he also laughs appropriately and makes his own jokes. Ones others laugh at as well (pretty juvenile stuff, but still recognizable as humor). Well, in today's New York Times there is an interesting article on laughter not being about how funny something is but about it actually being a social skill that helps us get along. Thought it might be an interesting read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/science/13tier.html?_r=1&a mp;8dpc&oref=slogin
Fascinating! Thanks for the link.
Btw, I read the muffin joke to my 5 year old, and he said "again." Then he learned to tell the joke himself and got a big guffaw out of his daddy on the phone.
That is very interesting, and a little comforting. My oldest laughs at things on the tv, things that really aren't meant to be funny, and i'm sitting there going what is so funny???? Maybe its not such a bad thing after all.
Thanks Tzoya!!!! What an interesting read. My son laughs inappropriately too. And Shelley.....he absolutely LOVES Americas funniest home video's!!!!Once, we had a doctor tell us that recognizing absurdity is a clear sign of intelligence. He said that if our son (now 6) enjoyed and used humor, we ought to pick it up as a tool to help him out.
So here's the little trick we invented to get him to answer questions and to defuse anxiety.
Say, in a speech session, we ask him to tell us where the dog is hiding in the picture book. If Cole ignores us, I'll say: Oh, there he is, inside that bowl of applesauce. If he still won't answer: No. That's wrong. That darn dog is getting carried off by all those penguins. Oh. My. Gosh. They're crazy penguins!"
Cole simply cannot resist smiling, making eye contact, and with a giggle - telling me exactly where the dog really is and why he's there. I'll ask where the applesauce is or where the penguins went. He'll just crack up & say "There's no applesauce OR penguins, Mommy!" like I'm the goofiest person that ever lived (kid could be right).
He used to sometimes get anxious and ask repeatedly "Where's Daddy? But where's Daddy?" You know the drill - you answer and they still repeat the question dozens of times.
I started responding, "You tell ME. Is he in Africa on safari?" "No? Could he be at the North Pole?" Again, this snaps him out of it, and he'll turn and say, "No. Dad's at the office. He'll be home soon." And voila, he stops the anxious stuff. Sometimes, I'll even hear him say quietly to himself "Dad will be home soon." It's like he is self-soothing, you know?
Anyway, this works for us.
The first time I knew Sarah had some understanding of humor was when she was watching "America's funniest Videos" she seemed to totally get the cause and effects of it..not too abstact just funny:) I got her the dvd's for Christmas. She loves them.Great technique. I use something similar with my son when he repeatedly asks me the same question. I tell him the wrong answer. Then he immediately smiles and says, "Oh, that's so silly...." It stops some of the perseverative questioning that drives me SO nuts. I've got to use MY sense of humor more.
The first signs of my son's sense of humor were him using opposites and wrong answers as jokes.