19 days ago
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Siblings and autism
Does anyone find parenting your neurotypical second child difficult after having an child with ASD first-up?My five-year-old started school this year and has had trouble making friends. All his kinder pals and in the other prep classes and he's by himself.He's been naughty in class, and I've only just realised it's him trying to be the class clown, so other kids like him.He's so confident and social it took me 100% by surprise.He's also been trying to hang out with his big brother. My nine-year old's best friend is a bit possessive (also ASD) and prefers one-on-one play. They've been running away and even telling the teacher he's annoying. They never say it to his face so he's clueless until it all blows up. It ended with him biting his brother for being mean on the last day of term and crying that his brother hates him and he has no friends. Any advice?
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Why is he not in a class with his friends from kinder? It's not right for them to be all together and he has to start again. Did the school make an oversight. It sounds like he's compensating with attention seeking. It sounds like they didn't set him up for success at the start by mixing up the classes enough so there was a mix of both or by putting him in class with the kids he knows and had already made friends with last year. His brother sounds like he would be the safe bet for him to feel like he atleast has him only for it to backfire in the school environment. The biting sounds like an escalation of his feelings. Can he be moved into the class with his kinder friends
Do you think there could be more going on- have you spoken to his class teacher? Big hugs!!
We know they coordinated pretty well after all the meetings for X. I think he was so confident coming along with me to those; she felt he could handle it. I don't know if he can switch, but there's one class that would be great for him.
Finding him peers his age to play with may help, separate from his sibling. Pairing him with a child of a similar energy level may help him create a bond with a peer that has similar interests to develop his own social skills. He wants to feel included, perhaps an after school sport or activity may give him that space.
🙌🏼 I had my most difficult child first, it made me scared to find I was pregnant again the second time round. But they are all so different! 💜