Hi there, my name is Cailey and I am 12 years old. I have a sister named Anna Beth who is 7 and has autism. Autism is a lot more common in boys than in girls, so Anna is the only girl with autism that I know. I know her very well though. I was Anna's age when my parents found out she was autistic and it was very hard for them to explain to me. They bought me a book about it and read it to me so I would understand. I still don't really understand it. My parents say they don't either. Anna can be very difficult to live with sometimes because she throws temper tantrums and is afraid of a lot of things. Because she is afraid of so much, we can't do a lot of fun things as a family. It wouldn't be any fun with her crying the whole time. I don't know what she is crying about but I sure wish I did.
Anna has a lot of favorites: a favorite book, a favorite chair, a favorite dress, etc. etc. That means if she doesn't get her favorite, she gets angry and yells. Sometimes guests sit in her favorite chair without knowing, and she screams and hits. She also has to fight my mom to put her favorite dress in the wash. But she has to learn can't wear it ever day.
Anna goes to a special class. It's in a regular school so they can see "normal" kids sometimes, but the class stays pretty much separate. She has two special friends named Molly and Eliza and they play dolls together. Sometimes they even play at each other's houses, which my mom likes. Anna goes on the Internet sometimes too, where she has an online friend who also has autism. She emails him while I email his brother. It's nice to be able to talk to them.
This summer we are moving. I wonder if she will be very mad and want to go back to our old house. I guess I will have to wait. We explained to her what moving means and she understands. But we don't know what's going to happen yet. I hope she's ok with it.
Well I guess that's my story so far! There still is more to come! Smiles,
Cailey serena004@gurlmail.com
