2012
Overheard in the bath tub this morning, the sounds of a 4 year old boy trying to teach his 2 year old sister how to say his name.
‘Say JAS-PAH, Joey’
‘…’
‘Like this, JAS-PAH’
‘…’
‘Joey, say JAS-PAH. Say JAS-PAH!’
‘…’
There are times in your life where you feel proud, and there are times where you feel profoundly sad. This was both for me today at bath time.
Jasper is beginning to understand more and more than Jovie is different to other kids. He’s first to say ‘Joey doesn’t talk yet’ when I talk to Jovie directly. When we drop him at daycare, Jovie likes to roam around the room but he brings her back to me saying she needs to go to ‘baby school’ (e.g. either therapy or her supported playgroups).
There’s glimpses throughout the day where he tries to ‘speak Jovie’ – our ‘home therapy’ includes bubble blowing and he watches me work on Jovie’s joint attention and tries to copy. And like in the bath tub this morning, he’s trying to encourage her to speak.
We tell him that Jovie needs a little more help than other people and that we need to teach her things, that you can always talk to Jovie because she can hear you (though she doesn’t understand). But ultimately we’ve decided he’s still a little young to understand the whole scope of things.
There will always be questions and maybe I won’t have all the answers, but to a 4 year old boy who just wants to play with his sister I don’t think any answer really makes sense.
Parents of kids with Autism – how have you explained Autism to your other kids?
