New evidence has uncovered a possible reason why autistic children don’t grin back at you — they simply think you’re ridiculous.
Experts have been monitoring Lottie Fitzgerald, three, who had remained stony faced throughout her parents’ attempts to entertain her. The couple from Congleton, Cheshire, claim they have failed to get a giggle out of Lottie since birth. Sources state that their main fears are that she’d struggle to make friends at her new nursery school, and also that she wouldn’t “look that good” on their Instagram account.
The team of researchers decided to bring in special measures: a comedy box set. Despite having not reacted when her parents quacked obnoxiously like a duck, she loved the third volume of Blackadder.
She then clapped her chubby hands after every gag in Victoria Wood’s Dinnerladies, chortling loudly. Her parents, who have chosen to remain anonymous, are reportedly too devastated to comment.
“It’s taught us a lot,” said researcher Dr. Aiden Michaels, raising an eyebrow from under the safety goggles he insisted on wearing. “Mostly that dads called Ian aren’t nearly as funny as they think they are.”
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