It’s The Covid Panto, But The Children Aren’t Laughing
by Dr. Sinead Murphy Yesterday, Friday, was my darkest Covid hour. But then there dawned a light: Covid is this year’s panto. It’s just that the children aren’t laughing. First, the darkest hour: I was called to collect my younger boy from school; he, along with the rest of his class, is sent home for two weeks on account of one of his teaching assistants having tested positive for COVID-19. It is an old story at this late stage of our Covid year. But this version of the story has a twist. My younger son, who is six years old, is autistic. He cannot answer the question "What is your name?"; he does not understand the concepts of ‘Why’, ‘Where,’ ‘Who’ or ‘How’; he has no grasp of the past tense and only a tenuous one of the future. Anyone will tell you that the most important ‘treatment’ for autism is the establishing and maintaining of a routine. Not because it makes autistic children more comfortable – it is more serious than that. A stable routine is their only chance of understanding the world and operating in it. Imagine you’re having a difficult conversation on the phone. Then one of your children starts asking you where their black football top is. Then the oven timer goes off. Then the doorbell ...
