"Bye"

I try to walk with Elena because she is in need of physical theropy after a foot opperation. She doesn't speak and has some awkward behaviors, such as flapping her hands and wringing them. When we go for walks she is so excited to see other people, and yet fearful of them. For this reason when she choses a park bench to sit on, she always choses one that someone is already sitting on. In Romania, it's more common to share a park bench with a complete stranger than it is in America. Unfortunately, Elena has no quams about engaging in her awkward social behaviors while she is sitting next to strangers. This almost always involves touching the stranges next to her and sometimes pushing them with her small pale hands. Today she sat next to an older woman who was watching her two grandchildren swing on the swings. After a few minutes the grandmother heard me call Elena by name, and when Elena reached out her hand to touch the woman, the grandmother spoke to hear kindly and called her, "Elena." Elena's response was to raise her hand and say (one of the only words she understands and uses in context) "Bye! Bye!"

"Are you going somewhere or do you want me to go?" The older woman asked Elena.

Elena pointed toward a park bench, "Bye!" She waved her hand for the woman to go away.

"WE are going, Elena," I explained, "not this woman."

The woman understood Elena however and to my horror she picked up her stuff and moved from our bench.

"Where are you going, Grandma?" One of her grandson's called out.

"Over there."

"Why," he asked.

"Because Elena wants it that way," his grandmother responded.

When we left two minutes later I said Goodbye to the woman and she called out, "Goodbye, Elena." This woman was so kind.