Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A brief commercial interruption

Do you ever wish that television had never been invented? I mean sure without it we would never have heard the story of a man named Brady or shared the mystery that is Oprah, but we also could have completely escaped all idols and losers and never had to explain Viagra to six year olds.
There's a commercial on these days for an office supply chain that features a man looking at every single item and exclaiming "Wow, thats a low price!" Even during the commercial, which is only 30 seconds, after the third time I want to wrap the guy in the copier paper and staple him to a dry erase board.  So imagine my delight to find that this is Dakota's latest obsession. I can't count how many times a day he says this. There's no particular reason for it and I have no idea what triggers the memory for him. He just belts it out at odd times: around the house, in the car, at school. It's like the commercial equivalent of a little Clay Aiken breaking out into show tunes at the drop of a hat.
Like most things I'm sure he is looking for attention with it. He got noticed and people laughed the first time he did it so he just keeps doing it. It feels good to get noticed so why not. He completely misses the facial queues and other nuances that let the rest of us know when something is enough.
I know I have mentioned Dakota's propensity for repetition and I think that is part of it as well.  I think repetitive speech sometimes helps him calm himself and gives him a way to interact with the "normal" world. He imagines that people will know the reference because in his mind everyone sees the same t.v.  shows or movies or even the same people at the store or on the street, so he will fit in. I think at times he falls back on these things when a conversation gets to be more than he can follow. And if this helps him to soothe himself or get his focus back then good for him. Maybe I should just not let him watch t.v. and stick with music instead. I mean what annoying phrases or bad language could he possibly get from popular music!

1 comment:

  1. I think I have said this before....having a deaf child does have its advantages. HOwever, I always think to myself when I see commercials where someone is acting outrageous.....how many takes did it take to do that? How does he make himself sound so enthusiastic after the 100th take? Did he crack up in the beginning along with all the production crew? What was his audition like?

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