What is it like to have an autistic brother? Well unless you have one then it’s easy for you to say when you have no idea how it is. My brother was diagnosed with autism when he was three and has grown up acting out on people because he doesn’t really know any better. He has to be pulled aside by a teacher at school every once and a while and if we are together and he is acting up we pull him aside and tell him what he is doing isn’t okay and sometimes he still keeps doing what he was doing before we talked to him.
Sometimes he misses his medicine so he gets really loud and rude. But we find ways to get him to calm down. He doesn’t get his medicine on the weekends because my mom doesn’t feel that he needs them unless we are going on a family getaway for a few hours and need him to be calm. Some days the medicine doesn’t work but we still deal with it, obviously.
My brother is very intelligent, as a nine years with ADHD and Autism he is amazingly intelligent. Most children with what my brother has are so smart. My brother has done so many awesome things in his life. He is a great kid and nothing can stop is great personality.
Sometimes I get asked why my brother is “weird” and I get so mad at them because my brother is far from weird. He is just different and unique from other kids his age. My brother has a few other kids like him that he gets along with pretty well. He loves to play outside with his friends at school. He tends to be a little rough with some kids that are much smaller than him.
I love spending time with my brother because it opens my eyes up to all the possibilities that something could happen to one of us and we kick ourselves for not being closer to each other. It is hard to spend time with him sometimes but it is always worth it.
May we revisit my original question, what is it really like? Some who has a child or a sibling that has it will be the only people who understand. As a sister to a child that has autism and ADHD knows that it is hard to deal with some of the things that he does or has done. Most of the time his medicine will calm him down but not always so we have to tell him to go to his room and breathe and come out when he is ready.
My brother is a child that loves to play games and watch videos on the computer. Sometimes he is on the computer so long we have to tell him to get off and go outside and play. Usually we have to go outside with him so he will stay outside because he wants someone to play with. Sometimes we bring him up to the school so he can either play basketball or walk. Sometimes it is easier just to make him go outside and go on the swing.