I'll have to ask my mother about it. Since I wasn't diagnosed until middle school and my little brother (who has autism) was the youngest, it meant that by the time he was born, Santa was already in the house, and that he knew about Santa by the time he was diagnosed. I also remember he was told 'the truth about Santa' late -- partly because he was the youngest, not just the autism -- and that there was an issue of him not 'spoiling' people like his second cousins. (I think Mom did go with the 'pretend to act out the story' angle, but I'd have to ask her.)
It does remind me that my little brother, when he was a kid, was horrible about keeping secrets. One year Dad took us out to buy Christmas presents for each other -- my sister and I were old enough to be allowed to wander the mall alone, so Dad could help Ben -- and within the ten-minute car ride home, Ben had let on that my gift involved Pokémon and origami. To no one's surprise, it was a Pokémon origami book. (It was a nice, thoughtful present -- Ben and I are video game buddies and origami was a hobby of mine in middle school. I just found it funny that Ben was so excited that he found this gift that he couldn't keep it from me.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2010-12-02 02:35 pm (UTC)It does remind me that my little brother, when he was a kid, was horrible about keeping secrets. One year Dad took us out to buy Christmas presents for each other -- my sister and I were old enough to be allowed to wander the mall alone, so Dad could help Ben -- and within the ten-minute car ride home, Ben had let on that my gift involved Pokémon and origami. To no one's surprise, it was a Pokémon origami book. (It was a nice, thoughtful present -- Ben and I are video game buddies and origami was a hobby of mine in middle school. I just found it funny that Ben was so excited that he found this gift that he couldn't keep it from me.)