Inappropriate Names?

Tuesday. Ninth grade integrated math 1A (special ed). Second period. 

Ms. G warned me that the class contained a core group of autistic boys. As I have of late found that I identify strongly with certain autistic traits (I have not been, nor will I seek to be, diagnosed as autistic), I figured we'd be just fine. 

I had met the boys before, in other classes. 

They had the usual math-type worksheet. They solved problems. Those problems had colors associated with them. If they got the correct answer, they used the correct color on the coloring sheet portion of the assignment. It's a quick way to visually see if they're doing the math right. 

The coloring sheet was of sea turtles. 

As the boys worked, they talked. And at some point, one of the boys suggested naming the turtles. 

The other boys objected. They couldn't name the turtles. I chimed in with the suggestion that there was nothing wrong with assigning names to the cartoon turtles on their papers. 

Then one of the boys commenced with the naming. "This one is Mr. T, this one is Ms. B, this one is..." 

He was using teacher names. I recognized all of them. They were all special ed teachers. Probably their current teachers, but maybe a couple from the previous year. 

Now, if the paper had been something weird, I might have objected. But they were sea turtles. It was a cute paper. I could detect no malice, nor was there any snarkiness. It was like the boy needed names he knew.

But the other boys objected strongly. "You can't name them that!" 

Again, I chimed in. "Those names are fine." 

Then the conversation went back and forth between whether they should name them that or not. 

Of course, that didn't last too long before they moved on to other topics. 

Often it is fun to be the fly on the wall, listening to their conversations.