As some of you know, I work with Special Needs kids in school, one in particular on a one-on-one basis. On this particular day, we ended up in Math class (A Special Ed. class). The class of 4 is already small, but when one kid is on suspension & the other is at home, the class seems even quieter. While we're sitting there, this kid (We'll call him "Tommy") starts laughing hysterically. Considering he's Autistic, it doesn't even phase me to see him doing that, & if you've ever read up about Autistic children, you understand why. While he's doing that, I see the other boy in the class (We'll call him "Jake") looking at me, wide-eyed, like he was scared. So I look at him & start laughing. He starts laughing too, comforted in knowing that it's okay. Jake often sleeps in class, so I wasn't surprised when I turned around to find him out cold only a few minutes later. Meanwhile, Tommy's still laughing at God knows what. Eventually I hear him mumbling something & decide to listen cause he never tells me what he's laughing at. I hear him say something to the effect of "the penguins...... that's a stupid joke......" or something like that. So I ask him, "What? What did you say?" He starts laughing hysterically. So I ask him again, "What did you say? What about the penguins?" He starts laughing even more hysterically. By now, I'm laughing too cause it's hillarious watching this kid laughing at nothing at all. So I tell him, "Eh! What are the penguins doing? You better tell them to leave you alone cause you gotta do your work!" He starts laughing some more, then he tells me, "No, but I like them, they're funny." So I tell him, "NO! Tell those dang penguins stop telling you jokes & leave you alone cause you need to do your work!" He starts laughing some more. Of course my telling him to get back to work & leave the penguins alone doesn't help. So I finally tell him, "EH! Tell those penguins if they don't wanna leave you alone, then at least help you do your work!" He starts laughing hysterically again. By now, I'm part laughing, part thinking I'm going nuts myself, part wondering if IM the one that fell asleep, & another part kindda mad cause this kid barely did any work. But in the end, I just told myself, "At least it was something crazy funny"....
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