Comments on: 13 Secrets Parents Need to Know About Autism but Haven’t Heard Yet

By: Marion Phoning home

Marion Phoning home — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 22:45:35 +0000

After a special Ed teacher suggested my 4 yr olday be autistic, I started listening to as many books on Autism as I could. I listened to Neuro Tribes, and found this forum. I believe my Son and myself to be on the spectrum. I am hoping to find other Mamas or Dads or anyone with ASD to advise me. I am hoping to finally find my tribe. But also I agree with all of the points this article gives. I want my Son to grow up being proud of his neuro diversity. I am unsure of how best to handle the school element. He is having a difficult time this year in his preschool, and I don’t feel his teachers are at all flexible or knowledgable. I don’t know how to find the other autistic families in our area of Norwich Vermont. I am less freaked out and more excited that we could be on our way to being accepted as we are. If you are reading this and have any advise in the vein of celebration and advocation I am eager to make contact. Thank you M

By: katy_rome

katy_rome — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 00:31:24 +0000

Autism Diva, I loved this article. I recently discovered that my son’s autistic, he’s 7 nearly 8 years old. Strangely I never figured it out before, for a simple reason. I guess like many I was convinced autism was defined by lack if empathy, while it is so obvious that our son has almost supernatural empathy, not just for people but also animals. So I never considered it. Then 2 months back I read a letter in the New scientist by an autistic woman, saying that re. an article in a previous edition on empathy, she was convinced that the detachment comes rather from oversensitivity and over-empathy leading to an emotional shutdown in self-defence. I was stunned. From birth our son needed constant touch, he needed to be held and spoken to, or sung to, and he almost never slept.

Before having kids, I’d had no real experience of children or babies, when our daughter came along I assumed she’d need the same and she quickly put me right! I did my best, not always successfully, to give them both what it seemed they needed and were asking for. I guess I was a hopelessly liberal and indulgent parent. My husband is also a gentle, loving soul, i think we’re lucky to have such a family!

All was harmonious, till school. Then everything went horribly wrong. Our son just couldn’t do that. He seemed to change character, it was awful. He began to hate people, retreat into himself, have panic attacks and violent episodes. He couln’t look anyone in the eye anymore and sucked his lip till he got sores. Against everyone it seemed (I remember writing a 5 page document of pros and cons to convince my rational husband), I took him out of school. years later, after almost nightly rages, nightmares, and suffering..during which I’m there, holding him if he wants that, if he’s angry and doesn’t want physical contact, I just sit nearby saying ‘I’m here when you need me’, and making sypathetic noises, he’s starting to tell me, often cryptically and through questions, what happened to him at school. It’s devastating, but so important it comes out. Like the anger. Like Ron’s slugs.

He’s happy again now, he’s got a couple of really close friends (one at a time please!), looks people in the eye again, is confident and showing lots of interest in learning – mainly science, maths, computers, technology, space, nature and animals. He won’t handwrite, though he knows how, and my instinct tells me to leave it be.

So to sum up, he is an amazing, amazing boy. With support and love, and nurturing of his unusual gifts, he’ll be just fine. More than fine

We’re a lucky family, and I feel a lucky woman indeed to have the children I do. I realise that all situations are totally different, though. I do know I’m mostly incredibly lucky to have the supportive extended family I do, and a whole bunch of other factors that are singular to us.. And whatever happens, for parents who find the burden unbearably heavy, it is of huge importance not to blame yourself, ever. That’s always nothing but destructive. Just listen to John Lennon on this

By: narcolepticpenguin

narcolepticpenguin — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 00:12:55 +0000

Being a person on the spectrum I grew up in a very abusive house hold,id rather not go into details,but I will say I do have vivid memories from my first day home from the hospital and on,like when I mention to people I remember my first weeks of life that find it hard to believe,but there it is my life,I remember as a kid I knew I was different but it never really occured to be that I might have autism,I was too busy trying to fit in or stay alive at home. it wasnt until after I turned 16 that I began torealize that what others saw as a disability was simply who I was and did not need to be hidden away,or become something I should feel ashamed of. I found if I could read about it I could replicate it.one summer I worked at a camp called talisman camps for children with developmental disorders. I was amazed with how incredible these children were,again at the time I did not know I was already diagnosed on the spectrum I just knew people saw me as weird.so after really connecting with these kids so easily I felt I should look into myself.at times it is very difficult growing up with autism,but it should never be seen as something to be ashamed of,iv come to look at autism as the human attempt at achieving evolution,to some that may seem far fetched,yet there it is. im an adult with a super genius iq yet I work in minimm wage,with 4 tech degrees and 3 completed books,what im trying to say is the messege your trying to get across is very important just because we are labed with a disorder doesnt mean it needs to be seen that way,as far as I can tell we are only different,not broken.