The ongoing saga of Eddie and his little sister continues to this day. He often struggles to be around her in any capacity. She has started saying, “Eddie doesn’t like me.” As a parent, you expect your children to squabble from time-to-time. However, you don’t expect their disagreements to alter every aspect of day-to-day living. At least, that is certainly not something I expected.
CC is 3 1/2, and Eddie has lived with her for over half of his life. Sadly, all that time they have spent together has not helped him adjust to his younger sibling. There are moments they have fun together. This is usually adult-facilitated play, and a game Eddie really likes. Making these moments fun takes a lot of orchestration on the adult’s part.
I recently attended an autism workshop and they spoke highly of “social stories.” Many of you may be familiar with them. It is a way to teach a child appropriate social behavior, by telling a story about how to behave correctly in a given situation. I believe the idea is that if you teach a desired outcome through the “social story,” the student will apply that same outcome to their own life.
On a whim, I am taking the “social story” idea and applying it to my struggles with Eddie and his sister, CC. I wrote a poem (loosely applied term) in print and braille, applied some tactile stickers, and two scratch-n-sniff stickers to really get him interested. I made two copies; one for home and one for school. This is my parental attempt at brainwashing him into believing that CC is actually a lot of fun and not as overwhelming as he thinks. Honestly, I would try almost anything to end this family saga. For the sake of sharing, here are some verses from the story, to demonstrate just how desperate I’ve become…
CC is your sister, she plays and plays all day. She likes to run around a lot, and has a lot to say.
CC is only 3 years old, she is your little sister. Molly is 8 years old, she is your big sister.
Little sisters are very busy, and they can be lots of fun. Sometimes they are a little scary, because they run, and run, and run.
CC is a good friend, to play with every day. She is always up for fun, in every kind of way.
Eddie loves his little sister, and his sister loves him. When they play nice together, everybody wins.