Dr. Tracy Dalgleish explains why siblings have different nervous systems and need different things to feel recharged. An autistic, sensory-sensitive older brother and his sister who loves touch have opposite needs, but when the family talks about it, each learns to respect the other's boundaries without shutting them down.
Something I think that's so cool about siblings is that we have the opportunity to show this right within our household. Very rarely do the kids that we have in our household have the same nervous system where the same things drain them, the same things recharge them, the same ways of connection. It usually varies in my household. My oldest is autistic and sensory sensitive and the way that his brain works is so different than the way that my daughter's brain works. And we just can get to talk about that. We get to talk to them about how their brains and bodies work. He gets to learn that she loves connection and touch and that the way that she loves connection can be really draining for him. And so he can. He knows that she's going to keep asking to connect and eventually it's not going to be in a way that he wants. Right? And that not connecting with her isn't going to make the need for connection go away.
