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Autism
Hi all
Another member and I had the idea of making a thread about Autism Spectrum Disorder, as this is something a lot of people are either directly affected by because they live with ASD, or know somebody who does.
Firstly I just wanted to ask everyone what do you already know about Autism?
@mrmusic This is wonderful: "- If you are supporting/caring for someone with ASD, sometimes things will go wrong. This does not mean that you are doing a bad job, and it’s important not to take things to heart. These negative experiences provide good learning opportunities."
Thank you.
So, as Autism Acceptance Month draws to a close, I would like to just add a couple of general points about autism and its impact on the wider community:
- Having a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (incorporating previous diagnoses of Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified) is not necessarily a ‘bad’ thing. It is just another feature of a particular person, like eye colour for example.
- A particular person with ASD may have very different needs from another with the same diagnosis - there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to support.
- Many people with ASD will be able to function quite independently, and this should be encouraged and supported as much as possible.
- If someone is non-verbal (as the result of ASD or otherwise), that does not mean that they do not communicate, and they may need support in order to meet their needs. It also means that some ‘out of the box’ thinking may be required to support this.
- If you are supporting/caring for someone with ASD, sometimes things will go wrong. This does not mean that you are doing a bad job, and it’s important not to take things to heart. These negative experiences provide good learning opportunities.
- Carers and supports for people with ASD should ensure that you are taking time out for self-care, even if this means organising respite care for the person you are caring for. You are doing something very special in the community. Please also ensure you make use of appropriate support services if you need.
I hope this helps. 🙂
One thing that really sets me off is balloons. Don't get me wrong, blowing them up and playing with them can be quite fun, but it's usually too tempting for someone to pop them right in my ear! I also have a memory of a science workshop in primary school when they blew up a balloon with chemicals and then put a flame to it - the balloon popped with an almighty BANG - much louder than your typical balloon pop. Took me a while to get settled again.
Also if you are connecting leads to amplifiers, please turn the amp off before plugging the lead in! The noise that it makes otherwise is absolutely horrendous.
Also yelling out frustrations. Just a kind of grunty/scream because it makes my chest feel better (except this one is a feels good but sounds bad so it doesn't happen much/at all) It started at a verrry loud party that I spent the whole night basically shouting and now I like it.
Hey @N1ghtW1ng, thanks for letting me know about Autism Speaks. I had got the information from an Australian based website, however it would appear that they sourced their information from them. Just in case there is any confusion, I do not support or have any commercial affiliation with any organisation in this regard - it was just a quick internet search.
@j95 Thank you so much for your awesome contribution mate. 🙂 Really good to get this perspective!
P.S. I’ve made a slight edit to the original post to clarify the situation. 🙂
such a loving older brother and a supportive environment 🙂 I got my
tangles and slinkies from kmart and a lot of squishy things you can find in
some places. I got a chewie necklace from Stimtastic.com. It is a US store
but the chewy ended up being cheaper even with shipping than Australia
which has Chewigem for chewables and if you google australian stim toys
there are heaps of stores where you can find and buy a large variety of
stim toys such as auditory, visual or tactile (which is the fancy-term for
hands/fidget :P)
Perhaps @N1ghtW1ng, although I am definitely burnt out right now, which concerns me, as I know its just going to get more stressful over the next couple of months.
And frankly I am over people thinking I am ‘difficult’. I find it so difficult to stay in control sometimes, and once I’m tipped over the edge into a meltdown, things are just so difficult. That’s why I’m so glad there are people such as yourself and @j95 who through personal circumstance actually get that meltdowns are not a deliberate way of attention-seeking.
- Not too much noise
- Not too many options
- No sudden changes (I try to warn her before things are happening, so i'll say something like, we are packing up soon, very soon then nearly finished)
These things really have to be taken into account because without them there is a 95% chance of triggering a meltdown which can last for anything between 2 minutes and 2 days.
I also support her by using basic sign language because that is something she is learning at the moment. So I will speak to her and use the key word signs or if I'm noticing she needs something I'm teaching her to sign it, so for example if she would like a drink.
I also have a younger brother with Aspergers Syndrome, which is often labelled High Functioning Autism. He attends grade 4 at a mainstream school. I support him in similar ways that I support my sister by making sure our environment is not too stimulating, but he does a good job of recognising when things are too much and often gives himself space. I also encourage and praise his use of social skills, so if he using good eye contact and paying attention to who is speaking I tell him he has done a good job, I often have to remind him of thinking about what he says before he says it but he is getting better. He does need support but I find he needs a lot less intensive support than my sister and can generally play together with my other siblings quite well and to most people would seem like he doesn't have a disability.
Overall they are both so different.
Agreed @Karinaskii, great thread idea!
As mentioned by the others, I understand ASD to be a spectrum, so people can have more or less issues in processing different types of information, ranging from anything social to intellectual.
I used to help a lovely adolescent with Aspergers in her reading, though this syndrome falls on the high functioning end of the spectrum as it does not compromise intellectual ability usually.
However, she was extremely introverted and often did not make eye contact, and had limited, repetitive topics of discussion, so I found the best way of communicating with her was patiently letting her control the flow of conversation, so she could be comfortable.
Look forward to learning from others 🙂
I don't know a lot about Autism except some bits and pieces (a lot of which @DruidChild mentioned already :P) In my prac the classroom next door to me had a couple of autistic kids, and it was interesting how different they were.
I wanted to use this thread as a way of sharing my own experience (it's taken awhile, but here I go) So basically my mum had been pestering me to see someone. I thought it was general psych business, turns out it was actually about Aspergers, which I have. I guess. I managed pretty well through childhood and mostly through high school (according to parents, who I trust, because I don't remember :P) I suppose as things got more stressful, i.e end of high school to university, things started to get harder.
I don't really know how I feel, but it feels nice to say something (unless I delete this in the morning...)
I guess it makes some sense..? Going to stop talking now. I'm really tired 😛
@N1ghtW1ng I think it's really brave of you to share and it's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Thanks for that. 🙂
Awesome idea for a thread @j95!!
Mostly what I know about autism comes from online sources, especially tumblr blogs and other social media of people who have autism spectrum disorder.
A couple of things I want to put out there are that most of the people I've spoken to who are autistic prefer identity first language! As in they say 'I am an autistic person' rather than 'I have autism spectrum disorder.' A lot of people argue that this supports having pride in their identity, and not seeing autism as an illness but as a neurodivergence. Some people say that it's like saying 'I'm awesome' rather than 'I'm a person with awesomeness.'
I also have found found that most autistic people dislike high and low functioning labels, because they're often used to excuse ableism and allow non-autistic people to either invalidate high-functioning people ('you don't look autistic!') or to speak over low-functioning people ('I know what's best for you.')
I've also investigated whether I might have ASD so I've done a lot of research! I'm still not really sure whether I fall on the spectrum...I experience a lot of the symptoms, but others don't impact my life as much as they did when I was younger.
A lovely autistic person called Amythest Schaber has a really good series of YouTube videos about autism - https://m.youtube.com/user/neurowonderful
This is a wonderful thread!
I understand that ASD varies between people. No two people are the same.
My sister is on the spectrum, but she is very different to others I have met with ASD.
@j95 Great thread! I definitely think there needs to be more awareness and support for people with ASD.
From what I know, people with ASD have trouble processing information because they can get overloaded pretty easily. In teaching we have to be mindful of the way we present information to kids with asd because we can trigger over-sensory. I can't really remember much else right now so it'll be good to see what others know.
I have a friend who has ASD and I know someone who used to work with autistic children.
Interesting to see some know a fair bit others not so much - that means we can learn from each other!
It does vary, I agree. Some people struggle with what we think are simple and basic things, and others can seem to be quite high functioning to others.
Thanks for sharing your experience @N1ghtW1ng that takes a lot of courage to talk to us about it but it isn't anything to be ashamed of.
You might of answered this in your other answer but I want to ask... Do you support or know somebody with autism? What type of adjustments, if any, do you make for them?
To answer the next question, in my prac there were those two boys, although I didn't interact with them very much, so I didn't need to really support them. At my ju jitsu club, there is a boy who has autism, which I learned from his dad. It's not very obvious, but I always make sure to encourage him when we're doing techniques and such. A smile in his direction, praise and such.
It's wonderful what you do for your siblings @j95 🙂
This is a wonderful thread!
I definitely think there needs to be more awareness and support for people with ASD.
Thanks @N1ghtW1ng
Seeing my brother exceed expectations and improve everyday is really awesome. When he first started school he had limited social skills, really anxious, a lot of sensory processing issues but now 4 years later a majority of the time you almost wouldn't realise.
When he last had access he was showing me a book he made with his group at school which was pictures of them talking to people and ordering at a cafe and stuff I thought that was pretty cool.
Both my brother and sister go to respite services so they get to go and do activities like cooking, trampoline park, the movies, heaps of different stuff and that enables them to make friends with other kids who might be similar to them, and their carers get a break too. It's really cool what those services do and help with.
@N1ghtW1ng that's a really interesting observation you made re support for adults vs. younger people, I agree with you that a lot of the focus is on ASD in younger individuals like children or adults, and not so much those in between. It can definitely make it hard for those who don't fit into that category, so good on you for sharing your experience! I guess that's one of the ways that we raise awareness and remind people that ASD is something that can affect people at all ages