Tonight at the dinner table, Vince shared with us that his class was reading the book Rules. Vince has read this book numerous times so I was not too concerned about that. The book is about a young girl and her brother with autism who meets another boy with special needs at her brother’s therapy sessions. This is a wonderful book for children and is a Newbery winner. It does highlight the relationship with the young girl and her brother with autism. So I have mixed emotions whenever a teacher has chosen to read it when Vince is involved but most of all I feel glad they are bringing awareness.
This is the first time, I was not prepared for this. In the past, teachers have reached out to us and given us a heads up knowing that this maybe difficult for Vince. In the past, his teachers would talk to us about it. One year, his teachers had done such an amazing job that Vincent even presented a lesson to the class on what it was like to live with a brother with autism.
Tonight was different. He wasn’t as confident. He talked about the teacher asking if anyone had heard of autism and how they knew about it. I took a breath and asked what he said. He said, “I know about it because my brother has autism.” I asked him if anything else was said and he said the teacher’s response was “how severe is it?” I took a deep breath and waited for his response. He answered, “it’s not too severe.” I asked him how that made him feel and he said, “it was fine.”
I let it drop for a few minutes and then he said to us, “do you know what is weird?” Ed and I waited for his response and he said, “the last three books we have read are about people with disabilities.” I said, “interesting.” I appreciate this teacher focusing on challenges and differences and I do believe that the book Wonder has started the trend. I appreciate the trend and the discussion to treat people equally and be more accepting. This is awareness and starting children young is the best way to make it more comfortable for everyone.
One thing I did notice was that Vince said he is glad it is a book they are reading on their own instead of as a read aloud. I thought this was interesting because in the past he had it as a read aloud. I know tonight, when I tuck him into bed, there could be more discussion on this. I pray that God gives us all guidance and support while he is reading this. This is a lesson for me that even though we made it clear to Vincent’s teachers at the beginning of the year about our home life, it can easily be put to the side because it is not Vincent’s day to day at school. In many ways this is a celebration for us because we do want Vincent to have time where he is Vince and not Vince with the brother with special needs. This is a win but also has me a bit nervous for some questions to come.
Ed and I try to help prepare Vince and Dom for challenges and how to answer them. This will have me refocus and make sure I am double checking on Vince the next couple weeks. Vincent is truly one of the strongest people I know and we are so blessed for his maturity and compassion.
