He is by no means mute like he was when he was little but he speaks in Echolalia. That means he echoes back phrases that he has heard in the past, kind of like a parrot might. But because he is so smart he uses his echoes to communicate instead of the words he can't find.
Unfortunately you often have to watch all the shows that he watches to get his full meaning but he is getting much better at picking only the most meaningful phrase.
Funerals seem to bring out his most mischievous side. He is not fond of church; with its uncomfortable clothes, shoes, long bouts of grownups talking, etc. Funerals to Jack just seem like extra church duty with overly emotional (and therefore even less understandable) grownups.
Just this last May at my grandpa Jackson's funeral service he kept trying to shout, 'Mission completion!' It is a phrase from the end of the Little Einstein's show on Disney channel and obviously he was hoping we would all get the hint. Of course it fits my grandpa to a tee and is exactly the sort of comment I can imagine him hoping for from one of the great grandkids. So the one loud shout only brought smiles.
My grandma Glissmeyer's funeral on the other hand was a bit more embarrassing. She had struggled with Alzheimer's disease for several years and could get pretty irritated with Jack because he made no sense at all. For his part Jack loved irritating her and when she stayed at our house several evening a week he would go out of his way to wander past muttering nonsense words to see if she would tell him to stop!
Just before they closed the casket for the services and in the middle of the family prayer, Jack announced quite loudly, 'Giant Pickle'! It is part of a Veggie Tales movie that he loves and also just the sort of nonsense that would get grandma to say something stern!
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