PERSONAL NARRATIVE
A Special Life Bond:
THE JOY OF TICKLING
By Steven JOSIAS
My new granddaughter is now six months old. She does not do much except eat
and sleep. She is just starting to sit up and may soon begin to crawl. We can play a
little peek-a-boo and a few other early infant games. What can we do for fun to get
to know each other? It seems we have discovered that our most fun comes from tickling. It’s simple. We always get a laugh and a smile and have a great time.
M
y oldest grandson is a little more than
eight years old. He’s active, enthusiastic, and as cute as could be. He has autism. We first learned he had an issue
when he was about two years old. It
was becoming clear that something
was different. He lost some of his
words and was not really progressing in certain key
social areas. The quest for insight and information
began by his parents immediately. There was no denial by any of us and no shortage of effort to start to
deal with the matter. He began speech therapy and
behavioral therapy shortly thereafter as the search
for insight progressed.
Like every doting grandparent, I was concerned.
I’ve always had a close relationship with my grandson and we played together often. From infancy
we played peek-a-boo and I tickled him and rolled
around on the floor with him. He laughed and cooed
and we both had a ball. It never mattered to either
of us that he might have some developmental is-
Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 44
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