Liam’s wonderful 1st grade teacher, upon learning that we would be adopting, chose a read aloud to help Liam adjust to the idea of a new sister. She read:
After that day, she shared with us that she had made sure Liam was sitting up front during the reading. She made sure to put special emphasis on certain parts of the book and to make eye contact with him, especially, during the reading.
She told us that, after she was finished reading the book, she asked Liam directly, what he thought of the book. He said it was nice. She asked if he had made any connections to the book while she was reading. He said he hadn’t.
She laughed as she told us that, as she followed up more explicitly by asking if he was going to have a baby sister join his family, Liam casually corrected her by sharing that his baby sister was being flown home on an airplane, not born from his mom. The book was completely different from what was happening in his life. He did not see the connection.
We all learned a little about how he thought that day. His teacher shared that she was happy that Liam was still teaching her things about autism that she had to learn.
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