From:	Laura bowen <c11837652002@yahoo.co.uk>
To:	steve@stevecunio.co.uk 
Subject:	Re: Laura re playwork autism
Date sent:	Tue, 7 Jan 2003 10:56:35 +0000 (GMT)

Thank you so much for all your advice and help with my case study, it is
pricless and really spells out exactly what I feel I need to do, you write
it like you already know the family and their many problems!!!! Thankyou
again it is really going to help my assignment, I have just joined your
mailing list so I'm sure to here from you soon Laura. :)


Steve Cunio <stevecunio@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:Hi laura,

Take a deep breathe if i'm advising what you already do! :) 
Think of it as affirmation lol. :)

= Isolated activities -- a sympton =
The first thing that strikes me is that the activities carried 
out by the kid is on his own, riding a bike, playing computer 
games. Very generally speaking this may be due because of lack 
of attention and these activities chosen by him are simply a 
sympton of the deeper cause of the trouble with bonding with 
his brothers and sisters.

= Brother jealous? =
For the brother to say he hates him may also be due to the same 
problem and perhaps a perception that although he is ok, he 
doesnt get half as much attention as his autistic brother.. ie 
just time spent with him, talking, trying to figure what 
started all this and why he feels that way... talks that would 
at least take days and at most weeks depending on how 
forthcoming he is.

= Co-operative activities not competitive =
In life we all have different skills, complementary skills, 
skills we can choose to be competitive about or be co-operative 
with... maybe there is some jealousy involved over the enhanced 
skills the autistic child has. 

= Bridging the gap between reality and the dream brother =
Of course it could be simply that he doesnt have the brother of 
his dreams. Only we can make our dreams come true, so if you 
can find out what this dream brother would have been like maybe 
some bridges between the reality and the dream could be built?

Responsibility too i find is a good thing to give. If there is 
anyway to say okay spud you can help your brother learn this, 
you're pretty good at it.. maybe that would be a way to 
encourage their interaction.. 

= Thinking of the children not the condition =
i can't replace your eyes and ears but i hope this helps... i 
find too that it helps to think not to think of the child as 
his condition but to think of him just as a child and spread 
your time over the three kids together.

When explosive, emotional situations arise then is the time in 
front of all to explain Xs difficulty in coping with the 
situation and why such a thing won't work.. by losing the 
expectation that someday, miraculously X will be a 'normal' 
child at least his sister and brother may come to terms with 
their group situation.


I hope this helps in some small way or gives you an idea or two 
to try.

Yours
Steve
:)
Steve Cunio
http://www.stevencunio.com/
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