seokjins-hedgehog asked:
Hey! Today in school I saw an announcement about a little autistic boy who's looking for friends to go play with him and help him learn and such. I'm thinking of contacting his mom and I just wanna know if there's anything I should know? I don't think I've ever interacted with someone autistic before, so I don't really know what it would be like, but I really want to try it. I'd be very glad if you'd answered ^^ (And sorry for the mistakes .-.)
That’s a lovely idea!
As an autistic child, especially for boys, it can be very difficult to make friends or interact socially like other kids. This often leaves the majority of us to be at a disadvantage with learning skills at the pace of our peers.
Keeping this in mind, I would advise you to let him guide the interactions. Ask him questions. Find the things that fascinate him and let him explain them to you. Remember that he may not express interest or excitement the same way as others. He may seem uninterested or not look at you, but this is not an indication of dislike. On the contrary, he may be willing to hug or interact with you after all - we’re all different in that way.
Try not to think of him as “an autistic” and just think of him as a child with different neurological development. The majority of us have “autistic superpowers” and a set of “bonus features”. The “superpowers” are our skills that are finely tuned or well above average (math, assembly, linguistics, etc), and our “bonus features” are our idiosyncrasies. These can be things like not liking to be touched, being unable to tolerate certain sounds, or listening to movies or music at very loud volumes.
He is already aware that he is different, and so are you. My request on his behalf is to be as “normal” as possible, but to remember to explain your feelings and emotions as you have them. If he kicks you a response would be “please don’t do that, that hurts me and makes me want to leave”. Or if he plays music too loudly a response might be “I like your music but it hurts my ears. Could we turn it down?” Autistic individuals are unable to decipher emotions or unspoken thoughts. Many of us, especially women, rely on movies, TV shows, and very verbal friends to tell us what emotions correspond to certain expressions or sounds.
I’m excited for you and him to have this opportunity! Good luck.
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