As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,
Normal children almost immediately start playing and interacting with other children. They find friends and enjoy games and playing in groups. However, for children with ASD this type of interaction is abnormal. They don’t do well in groups are found on the edge of the room and usually occupy themselves with solo games.
Dhuha has not played with anyone other than those few people she interacts daily in her whole 3 years plus existence. No spontaneous play with another child. None.
That changed a few days ago when we took her to the sand park near our house. When we arrived there was just one other child playing. He must have been around two years old. Her play started out what is normal for her. She went to one place and then another climbing and picking up sand. The little boy was following her around showing her his toy car but typically she wasn’t bothered. They sat together in a little house but that again isn’t unusual because she was sitting bothering about herself. The boy being there was inconsequential.
Eventually, they both came down and Dhuha’s play continued as normal. Then the little boy got onto the see-saw and started bouncing up and down. Dhuha looked up at him and then ran to the other side and climbed on and started bouncing with him. After a few minutes he would get down and she would as well, but whenever he got back on the see-saw she followed him and bounced with him. It must have happened four or five times, too many to be a fluke.
She also did something else that day that I hadn’t noticed before. She looked up at Zahira and I as if she was making sure we were still there. It was amazing to me because on that occasion she had a semblance of normal play. It still wasn’t ‘normal’ but it was a leap nearer to it.
Dhuha has improved so much in the 10 months or so since we recognised there was a problem.
O Allah we are indebted to You. All praise belongs to You, Glory be to You, there is no god except You and to You is our return.
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