[Sundae]

Yesterday I looked through the pictures in a book with Tiger.
We were due to start reading it. This helps children gain an idea of the narrative and allows them to decode unfamiliar words using context.

Seeing a spider illustrated, I used our old family word of bider. Look, Tiger! Bider.
Of course we then had a discussion abour spiders and biders and what the difference was.
I did not continue the fiction, but explained that this was a word used when I was growing up as my brother could not pronounce spider correctly.
All fine, all understood.

Except today, when actually reading the book, he identified the creature in the picture as a bider. He had counted the legs and there were six. In fact two were raised ready to walk, but Tiger assumed they were antennae (without knowing the actual word) as we have looked at mini-beasts in Science this year.

That's a bider Mrs Sundae, isn't it? A bider is different to a spider. But this one is a bider.

It didn't affect his reading, and was irrelevant in the story as it was just a detail in the illustration. But Note to self: do not assume you can explain whimsical anecdotes to an autistic boy.
In general I use humour to indulge in flights of fancy, to develop his understanding of idioms. Biders were a factual-sounding step too far.