mummiez & daddiez magazine May - June Issue 2013

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Baby Magical Smile Today my friend visited with her gorgeous 14 month old baby girl. I smiled and greeted her and there it was the most wonderful natural baby smile responding to me. What wonderful magic it is and moments that are so precious. For all and wonderful that this was, it actually made feel sad. Why? Well because neither of my children at that age ever displayed that type of magical response smile. My first son did indeed have a social smile as a baby but somewhere in his development it disappeared and by 14 months the same age as this baby his response to a stranger's smile was a deep and worrying frown. This lack of smile did not mean he wasn't loving, I think he just didn't understand what the stranger's smile was. It is said that children with autism often see faces in a different way to neurotypical children. When I used to ask my son to describe his friends he would say 'oh he is a triangle' or 'the lady is a square'. I always wondered if he was looking at
the shape of their head or face rather than their smile. Children with autism are loving and affectionate, it is just sometimes it is expressed slightly differently. My son now 6 has a social smile and is a happy loving boy, this due I think to dietary intervention and a lot of therapy over the past number of years. He has Aspergers syndrome. My second son is 2.5 yrs and was excited to play with the gorgeous 14 month old baby girl that was visiting him. He smiled back at her and was intrigued when she threw a ball to him. My son had speech delay and has been having early intervention speech therapy. He has signs of some ASD traits but yet seems so social to me. He is also on a special diet etc and is doing really well. He is talking at home, interacting, smiling at familiar people and generally doing great. When I saw him interact and play 'catch' with the gorgeous 14 month old visitor I was so proud. I felt like calling all my friends to come see 'look, look'! My second son is being assessed for PDD. When neurotypical children play their parents smile, record it and are so proud. For a family affected by autism, every smile, every appropriate social response learned or natural is gold. The smile or response gives a sense of achievement or security and helps push aside the fear of autism at least for that moment. Today both of my boys smiled and laughed, played together and with their peers and my 2 year old was very sad that the magical smile 14 month old had to go home for her dinner (refused point blank to let her borrow his jigsaw mind!). Meg Sullivan
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mummiez & daddiez magazine May - June Issue 2013

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