Having a sibling on the spectrum does have a few benefits. Cooper has grown up thinking that the lines at Disneyland are always five minutes long. He gets discounted tickets to local sports events when they have autism awareness nights and he gets to attend cool events like horseback riding for free.
Recently Cooper reaped another benefit of having an autistic sibling. During our spring break we went bowling with a local autism group. Cooper was not thrilled to go because being around autism is exhausting and he is not the best bowler. When we arrived at the bowling alley we saw that they had the bumpers up for the kids. Now for most autistic kids they need the help of the bumpers but Bailey can easily bowl between 70-80 without the bumpers. Cooper unfortunately does not have the same gross motor skills as his brother. If there had not been bumpers up Cooper would have not hit one pin. He left the event so proud of himself for having such high scores and even beating Bailey one time.
Could Cooper have that experience if Bailey was not autistic? Probably not because the bumpers would not be available to him. Thanks to having Bailey as his brother, Cooper had an amazing experience bowling that he will never forget.
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