Tuesday, 17 November 2009

• A Sibling's Take on Autism

  From: Dr. Chun Wong
  

  Adam and Dean Aviram are best friends - more than that, they’re brothers. At 9 and 10 years old respectively, Adam and Dean brag that they’re building a time machine together. Though he’s the younger of the two, Adam looks out for Dean and enjoys spending as much time playing with him as possible. They work as a team many times, especially because Dean has a wonderful memory so Adam loves that he doesn’t have to remember things.

  Though alike in the traditional last name and DNA departments, Adam and Dean’s differences are many. Adam prefers to play soccer and Wii. Dean has a fascination with history and loves to have intelligent conversations about world leaders with anyone who is interested. Though you might not be able to tell by simply looking at them, Adam and Dean’s biggest difference is that Dean has Asperger’s Syndrome and Adam does not.

  If I were to pose the question “What is Austism?”, I can only assume that you would head right to Google or WebMD and find the most technical and informative definition. Though it would be certainly accurate, your definition may differ from that of an Autistic child’s parent or even more, an autistic child’s brother or sister. The siblings of autistic children are undoubtedly intelligent and some of the best people to ask about the disease to get an honest, accurate description of what Autism looks like and means to them. 
  

  When Adam was asked what Asperger’s was, he answered, “Asperger’s is a type of autism and it’s hard for people to have a good conversation with other people.” His answer was not filled with technical words, however it was very accurate. He was also asked if his friends could notice that something was different about his brother, Dean. Adam answers an honest “Yes.” but says that they are not disrespectful towards his brother. He does go on to say that his friends wonder why he sits with other Autistic children at lunch time. Adam says that he tell his friends that he’s helping people and he’s interested in other people with Autism because of his brother’s Asperger’s.

  Not only does Adam go above and beyond for his own brother, but he is a true advocate for the Autistic community by reaching out to others.

  Some researchers are concerned with the effect of Asperger’s and Autism on the other children in the household. Do they grow up craving attention? Do they form a resentment for the illness and for their sibling for their mental disorder? Do they develop anger issues and are they more likely to have anxiety disorders as young adults? All of these scenarios and more are being studied, and we’ll surely see reports and statistics released at some point. However, in the case of Adam and Dean and surely in many other cases out there we have a chance to see that when subjected to Asperger’s in their home, children learn the lessons of respect, compromise, tolerance and patience at a much younger age than many other children. These are lessons and skills that many of us live our entire lives trying to learn and perfect.

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