It's been a while since I've written here. Besides work, I've been busy with my two children who are graduating from two different high schools on the same day - Friday, June 18th. Rebecca, 18, is graduating from one high school and her brother, Jeremy, 21 and severely impacted by autism, is graduating from another (see newspaper article)
At one point in my past life I helped with the logistics for BBC live coverage of the anniversary of the French Revolution in Paris. Even that was easier than the planning invovled with two graduations in terms of parking and seating (non-reserved of course) at two different high schools. Jeremy moves very slowly, and Rebecca wants to stay as late as possible at her graduation (normal request) and so we have someone coming with Jeremy but we have to have the getaway cars strategically parked so we can get out of the parking lot quickly. You get the picture.
This double graduation here clearly illustrates the sibling issues inherent in all families but even more pronounced when there is a sibling with special needs. Jeremy was never expected to graduate from high school, let alone on the same day as Rebecca. This was supposed to be Rebecca's special day. Now she is supposed to be sharing the limelight with her brother.
Having a sibling on the spectrum can have both positive and negative impacts on the neurotypical sibling. Rebecca has written a very short chapter on this for the book Siblings: The Autism Spectrum Through Our Eyes, and I've written about it in all my books (except Autism Life Skills). It's definitely an area of concern for parents.
Recently three high school students, Elyse Blueglass, Tyler Lipperman, Morgan Blueglass, conducted a nationwide study of the behaviors, attitudes, and views of "typically developing" (TD) children who have a sibling with "special needs". Over 1,300 surveys were distributed to 40 states across the nation. This research has become the largest and most wide scoping study of siblings of a child with "special needs" ever done. Their teacher, Michael Blueglass, contacted Parenting Special Needs Magazine to see if they would be interested in sharing their findings with our readers. You can read about it here
I'd love to tell you more about siblings of children with autism, but right now I have to go take care of logistics for graduation day. I promise to come back and share more information about sibling issues soon.
