The Piston Cup, Play and Pretend

Aidan having fun with his "Piston Cup" friends

This is the scene from our living room last night.  Aidan is almost twelve years old and he has conquered the art of pretend play! He was smashing and racing and imitating the sounds as portrayed by the characters in one of his favourite Pixar movies, "Cars."  It may not seem monumental, but to reach this milestone is a huge deal for a child on the Autism Spectrum.

According to www.whattoexpect.com, at the age of three years, toddlers pretend play should be, "firing on all cylinders."  Well, Aidan is in full throttle mode, just nine years later from "neuro-typically" developed children.   We forget as parents and caregivers to sometimes recognize these breakthroughs in their development.   We tend to focus on what they cannot do, rather than what they can do.

I hope Aidan continues to have many more races and crashes and pit-stops with his metal replicas and I plan to enjoy watching and listening and appreciating how far he has come.