I need shared stories...

[judifilksign]

 I sometimes feel my life with Sparkle is like an episode of STTNG:  "Darmok."  This is the one where the alien race speaks only in metaphors, and no one can figure them out.  Picard is kidnapped by the alien captain, and together, they must defeat an alien so they can learn to trust and communicate to one another, which avoids a war between their cultures.

I feel like Sparkle is one of the metaphor-people, and I'm just starting to get a clue as to what her world is.  I wonder to myself sometimes if the writers of this episode had someone in their lives that was autistic.  It has a lot of resonance for me.  

I need more shared stories to talk with my daughter better.

Comments

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Maybe find books and movies that say something you need to say to Sparkle, and read them / play them for her?

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I bet if you have a topic that you need to talk with Sparkle about, some of your readers will have kid-friendly movie suggestions.

[jenrose]

Shaka. When the walls fell.

*looks it up*

Actually this is better:
Sokath, his eyes uncovered.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

When she is a little older, that might be the solution. If she can see, acted out, how difficult it is to communicate with people who talk in riddles - if she *becomes* one of the people who just don't get it, and she can see people _making an effort to understand_ it might help her to grok why it's important that she makes an effort to be more easily understandable.

I know what you mean...

[violinsontv.livejournal.com]

I really do.

My girl just turned 5 years old, and got her first official IEP under ASD. We have yet to get an official diagnosis, but my own suspicion is Aspergers.

A lot of the talking we do is and has always been storytelling--as a toddler, it was Winnie the Pooh. For the past year, it's been Super Why--her current fave is Princess Presto, with me as Wonder Red. There is a distinct Calvin and Hobbes quality to our PP/WR conversations, with me using WR to try to give her insight on the social situations she has so much trouble with sometimes.

I never saw "Darmok", but my dad's friend's nephew was the screenwriter and Dad gave me a copy of the script. I don't know a lot about the writer, but dealing with my daughter day to day definitely has brought the episode to mind more than once.

(huskiebear is an old dear friend of mine (she was in the room when kidlet was born) and suggested I get in touch.)

Re: I know what you mean...

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Thank you for stopping by my journal; I end up posting about Sparkle a lot, because my online friends give such warm support and excellent advice. They help keep me balanced and "up."

I think it's good that we have online conversations about the spectrum. It's a bit like new moms, making good decisions but unsure of ourselves until we find out that we aren't alone when we find other mothers with whom to talk.