siblings

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-23-2004
siblings
7
Mon, 04-21-2008 - 4:59pm

I just stumbled on this article from Time last December, about siblings of autistics, and I thought it was really good.


Mollie Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2005
In reply to: mommycoffey
Mon, 04-21-2008 - 9:45pm

Hmmm. I have two very competitive, impatient NT kids (11yo ds & 4yo dd) who love to push the buttons of their AS siblings (13yo dd & 9yo ds) and periodically deliberately torment them. Once in awhile I see my NT's be gentle and sweet, but mostly not. We're constantly working on it. The past two years have seen a slight improvement between the boys but only because of 9yo AS ds maturing a little rather than the 11yo NT ds maturing!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-02-2004
In reply to: mommycoffey
Mon, 04-21-2008 - 9:55pm

Our NT daughter, Natalie, is 11 yrs old and she is a wonderful, patient big sister. I think part of it is her personality and part of it is the fact that she is almost 6 yrs older than our youngest, Lily, who has an asd. She is a great example to Lily of how to play with toys and how to use your imagination. They still have the normal sibling squabbles. But, for the most part Natalie is more patient with Lily than she is with anyone else. She gets sad sometimes about Lily not showing her much affection, but she is learning to accept it better lately. We have told Natalie in the past that she has been Lily's best "therapist". I know we are very blessed to have an older NT child who is such a special big sister.

Amy

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2007
In reply to: mommycoffey
Mon, 04-21-2008 - 10:35pm
my 4 yr old knows how to push every button that Bobby has! lol

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2005
In reply to: mommycoffey
Tue, 04-22-2008 - 6:32am
Good point about the natural personality. I really think that's a lot of it with my NT kids. My mom and some of my siblings HATE being wrong and are highly competitive. Because of my background, I have tried to make a point of admitting when I'm wrong, being happy about losing games, etc. Still, my NT kids are JUST like my family members. Maybe that's their disorder?! I was slightly heartened the other day to be playing Uno with my 4yo NT dd and seeing her let me win, until I discovered that she was only letting me win in order to make the game last longer since I'd told her it was the last round I had time to play.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-07-2008
In reply to: mommycoffey
Tue, 04-22-2008 - 8:52am

I remember fighting a lot with my younger sister and know how to push her buttons, and I definately see that in the 9 year old Aspie and his 5 year old NT brother - they both look for weaknesses in the other to exploit, and for DS2 a lot of that is definately the Aspie's difficulty with teasing and rule-transgression. But the NT 5 year old is incredibly insightful and thoughtful about other people generally (he brings me flowers when I am ill and told me once that 'If you accidentally do something naughty and say sorry before the teacher gets mad you don't get into trouble' and I just thought - there are a lot of adults who could do with learning that!!!) and he will try to accommodate everyone, including his annoying 2 year old NT sister's tantrums. I can foresee him going far with people skills as he gets older, and

"My definition of housework is to sweep the room with a glance"


Follow my blog on http://mumsnet.com/blogs/kirsteinr/


 

Avatar for debbi801
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-03-2003
In reply to: mommycoffey
Tue, 04-22-2008 - 10:12am

Interesting.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2003
In reply to: mommycoffey
Tue, 04-22-2008 - 10:32am

Honestly, all three of our

Meez 3D avatar avatars games