Sharing
Learning to share and to appreciate boundaries is a delicate balance. I would say that typical adults know it is polite to share and they can offer to share with others. At the same time, adults don’t expect access to everything that belongs to someone else. So, when we’re teaching our kids to share – it’s a much more complicated skill than we might realize.
The intervention is probably obvious. We told Mikey those were not his Doritos, and he was not allowed to take other people’s food. We also brought Mikey inside while Will and his friends stayed outside to help redirect Michael’s attention.
Although the immediate intervention is clear, the broader skill may seem more difficult to tackle. The problem is that it requires a certain level of abstract thought and understanding to know when to share, when to expect others to share and when to respect boundaries.
We were working on sharing and boundaries then, and we’re still working on those things now! I’ll keep you posted if I come across anything that seems to help.
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About the Author
Erica Mauro is a mom to two teenage boys, Will who is neurotypical and Michael with Autism and cognitive delays. She holds a BA in Psychology from Colgate University and a Masters of Psychology in Education from Columbia Teacher’s College. Before staying home with her children, she worked as an elementary school teacher. For five years, she served on the Board of Directors of the Molly Ann Tango Memorial Foundation, a charity dedicated to enriching the lives of children with special needs. In partnership with her husband Dave, she aspires to parent by using daily life as an opportunity for therapeutic intervention, seizing on real experiences as opportunities to build skills and strategies for Michael in a joyful, loving home environment. On the tougher early days, she just tried to get everyone safely to bedtime and start fresh in the morning. *wink* 
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