Per my research it recommended getting your entire family no matter how young, as informed and as active as you could in the therapy. So I sat the girls down and let them know why we have been taking Alex to lots of appointments to see Dr.'s and why he has therapist over almost everyday.
At first I told them that he was sick and needed our help on certain things and that he had been diagnosed with something called Autism. Arianna asked me what it was so I tried to explain it to her the best I could at a 7 year old level. I let her know that his brain just works a little different from ours and that he would need our help on learning lots of things that seemed normal to us. She asked me a little about his therapies and what he learns from them and told me to tell her anything she could do to help him.
I then asked them that even though he's a little different then most of the 3 year olds we know that he was very special and I asked them what they loved about him that was so different from other kids.
Arianna thought about it for a minute and said "I love how sweet he is to us, he never hits us, never snatches things from us, never tattles on us, and he's never really mean to us". She had noticed one of the best attributes of autistic children. Most of the sibling rivalry we've endured or participated in is a social behavior that is instinctive. Autistic children don't necessarily have alot of the social skills most of us are born with. Most of the time it's a skill they must learn and practice and hopefully one day make it a habit. The girls have been at each other from the day they could both talk. Sure they love each other but siblings just fight, it's natural. But Alex as of now, will never do those things. He only knows that when he smiles at us or hugs us it makes us smile. What little girl doesn't love hugs and cuddling. It's also one less ongoing match we won't have to referee. :-)
I just thought it was sweet that a 7 year old could pick up on something so simple and true.
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