explaining ASD to other children.

[Gottalovecosta]

Hi,
How do you explain ASD to other children in the family? My niece's are getting older now and have asked about DS's stimming, plus he tends to hit out and it would be nice to explain to them in a way they could understand the reasons why (ie: he is not just being naughty) - is there any books I can read or just things I can tell them?

how old are they?

the NAS has some books, nice early introductions like 'my brother/sister has autism' and then there are things like "Freaks, Geeks, and Aspergers' written by Luke Jackson, a boy with Aspergers.

at the moment (I have dd1 age 7 with severe ASD, and dd2 age nearly 5) we tell dd2 that dd1 has autism, and that it means she needs extra help with things, and that she doesn't always understand (not used as an excuse for any behaviour, but to try to depersonalise any behaviours such as occasional hitting, grabbing etc).

it works for now.

DD was a "young" eight when DS was diagnosed and she liked this book as it was so close to her own experience.

As a starting point, I told her that her brother sees the world differently. He finds difficult things easy, and easy things difficult.

Thank you - they are 8, 6, 5 and 3, it's the older three that I'm thinking about. I'm also a childminder to an almost 9 year old, who, bless her, accepts and deals with his behaviour in the most patient way.

CBBC did a programme a while ago here narrator has aspergers but brother has classic autism. There is also a Arthur cartoon called George and the Missing Puzzle Piece can get on youtube - which again is about HF cartoon character with aspergers.

My older two are 7 and 9 and tbh they are just starting to really get it. I mean they understood DS3 is delayed, but only recently do they get that its more than that and the 9 year old asks why his brother does not like him even though I have explained social deficits many times. Its something we just have to keep going back to.

NAS website have some resources for teachers. There are some things you can do on sensory / communication eg show them what be like if one of their senses did not work properly eg blindfold one and get the other to direct them; get them to mime something (eg if had no speech); make lots of noises simultaneously and get them to listen eg to a list and memorise it against lots of loud competing noises and explain for children with autism ordinary background noise can sound like that all the time.

Lots of videos on youtube.