extraordinary

It’s all about perspective. I love this post, because it gets to the heart of why we need to understand our kids, our special kids, and not push them into a mold because we think it’s “easier”. I can’t say it any better than this post does.

Alone v. Lonely

Alone v. Lonely – “I’ve always enjoyed being alone. My two autistic kids feel the same. And I never thought much about it until I was older and it was brought to my attention by  non-autistic people.” S.R. Salas

This link connects to a post that speaks specifically to how shifting perspective just a little can change the world a lot. very important when autism is present in our lives. Would be nice if this were part of everyone’s world-view 🙂

daddy love – it’s in the script

An absolutely lovely post, and so much progress made 🙂
My son doesn’t script. He has favorite songs, etc., but he has “typical” verbal communication abilities. If your child DOES script, please read Diary’s posts related to this. Scripting is often communication (from everything I’ve read by parents and autistic adults). Stopping scripting stops a potential avenue for communication – our most desired and NEEDED thing in our relationships.

Compliance

Compliance by ThAutcast

This blog post is important for everyone, especially for neurotypicals and neurotypical parents of autistic children (heck, and non-autistic children as well).

Autistic people already know how important it is to NOT make compliance the most important piece of education for autistic children.  “Why?” some of you may ask? The most benign reason is that when compliance is the focus, the individual is at risk of sacrificing who they are for who they think people want them to be. The most dangerous reason is abuse – emotional, physical, sexual. When compliance comes before all else, how can you say “NO!”?

Somehow, we parents of autistic AND neurotypical children need to, through building MUTUAL respect, help our kids discover and become the best possible people they are. Raising compliant children is easy – it’s based on fear, intimidation and superficial thinking. Thoughtful, responsive, investigative, respectful parenting – basically modeling the behaviors we want our children to have – takes a LOT of work, but it’s worth the effort when the result is a strong, healthy, safe, confident child.

Vulcan comments, and the people who use them stupidly (a rant)

I am a Star Trek fan. I have always been a ST fan. I have, in my mid-40’s, a fleet of pewter ST ships from all shows prominently displayed in my living room curio cabinet. I read a Star Trek book EVERY weekend as a kid. I had a crush on Spock as a kid. I can do the Vulcan hand signal with BOTH hands, and can raise my right eyebrow by itself.

Autism and Puberty: What I wish I would have known

Autism and Puberty: What I wish I would have known

As the mother of a child a few years away from puberty (but not that far), I worry that I will give not enough or too much information. My son is very literal, very factual, very science oriented. He drew RIBS and NERVES on a stick figure in kindergarten when he learned about them from a medical picture book we had at home. Puberty is confusing enough when your neurotypical – add in social confusion and literal thinking on top of that and the prospect is even more daunting.

This blog post is from the autistic female perspective, but it speaks to the need for knowledge/information that all our kids should have, beyond “don’t do it till you’re married”. I fully intend for my child to know, understand and respect his body and the bodies of others. I want him to be safe and I want to spare him as much confusion as possible.

Just for Fun 2 – Holiday Song Redo – Dashing Through the Snow (autism style)

Another autism Christmas song, dedicated to M at Invisible Strings, in honor of his Holiday get-together post. Somebody out there is having a “normal” Christmas gathering, but I don’t know them personally! LOL

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Just for Fun – Holiday Song Redo “Marcel the Snowman”

This is dedicated to M at Invisible Strings, in honor of this post. Autism Christmas Songs are a must have for the holidays 🙂

Our lives are n…

Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Travel, Friendship and Sensory Overload

Two rebloggs in one day. I know. But this post struck a nerve (pun intended) re. sensory awareness and NT’s being sensitive to it. My son is a seeker, so as far as I can tell, it takes a lot of input to make him overloaded. He stims when we travel by plane (but who wouldn’t!). There are people out there, autistics we know and love, who deal with the pressure of sensory issues CONSTANTLY. If we who do NOT deal with it can understand just a small piece of the strain this causes, we can help the world be a better place – for them AND for us.

Emma's Hope Book

A couple of days ago my friend Ib, of the blog Tiny Grace Notes, whom I was staying with, drove me to the airport.  Ib knows me pretty well and could tell I was nervous, as I have become increasingly as I get older, about getting to the airport, going through security and making my flight, even though we were leaving ample time to do all of that.  Still the combination of nerves due to traveling, my busy work schedule, being away from my family for so long, being tired and going to an unfamiliar airport had me on high alert.

It was snowing a little so we needed to have the window wipers on or Ib wouldn’t be able to see well enough to drive safely.  But the wipers made a scraping noise that I found almost intolerable.  Every time the wipers ran across the window they vibrated…

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