Posted by Savneet Singh on Apr.29, 2010

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A brother or sister can be disappointed or frustrated when an autistic brother or sister doesn’t indulge into play or other activities. Instead the child comes across the tantrums and the aggression of the autistic sibling and may be terrified for his or her own safety and perplexed by the sibling’s behavior. In this kind of situation, explanations may be of little use but concrete intervention from parent’s side may prove to be helpful.

Although many children will respond to another child’s mental or physical disability with curiosity, kindness or matter-of-fact acceptance, others may react with ignorance, fear or cruelty. For the sibling of a child with autism, these negative reactions can be more painful and may come to the forefront while they grow up with the brother or sister who has autism or any other special need.

As parents we cannot always anticipate what all problems that might arise as our kids grow up together. Moreover, you cannot protect children from the unhappiness they will confront. With a little planning on your part, time ahead may help siblings to understand autism and know how to cope with another child’s curious or hurtful response.

Educating Siblings

The first important thing is to combat ignorance, which can breed fear and damage the child’s relation to the autistic sibling. Educating the sibling supports his or her emotional well-being, letting him or her know what autism is. Siblings may, at time tease the autistic child, but may later realize the mistake of mistreating their brother or sister. If siblings know about the needs of the autistic child, they may not show angry or jealous reactions at the special attention their brother or sister gets from parents. In fact, if siblings understands the need of autistic child, they may respond to their brother or sister’s condition and will be at ease.

In order to make your child aware about the autism, you must be able to discuss the disorder in a way that it is meaningful to the child. How you explain it to child and what kind of information you are going to impart to the child, depends upon the child’s age and stage of development.

Age-Appropriate Explanations of Autism

In eagerness to inform your child, do not make a mistake of disclosing too much at one time. Try to make content brief and simple, if child is too young to understand. Don’t overdo the educating process. Provide information as it is asked and according to the situation you and your kid are in.

Provide specific information to the problem that has arisen. You may not go into the details and indulge yourself in discussion unless required. Your child will signal that he or she has got enough information for that time and want to change the topic. Respect that and stop there and then.

You may feel, at times, that you have educated your child about autism and now he or she understands that. But one fine day child might come up with a question like ”What is autism, Dad?” So, make a point to ensure that your child understand the real meaning of the term. The child may be using the term on and off but may not know its meaning in reality, just that they have been hearing it while they grew up. Children use terms and words before they understand them well. The term autism is abstract and children may not understand that fully unless and until they are much older. So it is very important that you share information which is age-appropriate and repeat the information many times over the years matching the child’s ability to understand the concept.

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Posted under Autism.