Communication

It is very exciting that the kids are becoming much more verbal, but this also creates new challenges for us as parents.

Normally if Edy says something inappropriate I can speak with her and she understands that it was either not the right time to say it or not right to say at all.

With Addi it has been more difficult. She likes to repeat what she has heard. She is starting to come up with and express many of her own thoughts, but she is still very quick to repeat what she has heard.

The other day I was on a field trip with her and her kindergarten class. There is a little girl in her class named Abby. She is a bit on the heavy side. We were standing next to her and Addi proceeds to point and say "Abby is fat." I was horrified. I know Abby heard her. I also know that this was not an original thought of Addi's.

It is very sad for me to know that there are kids in her class that are saying things like this about another little girl. I want to teach Addi that this is not a kind statement and that it is not for us to judge and we should be kind and loving toward Abby, but she does not understand. All I can tell her is that we don't say that. That is about the extent of her understanding.

And so we enter a new and challenging time of parenting our Autistic and for that matter normal children.