Life with Aspergers

Just drawing your attention to an article of mine which has appeared on the SOS Research Blog ; A Door to Advocacy and Leadership for Asperger's and a Special Kind of Fame Thanks to Danette M. Schott for providing me with this opportunity. Unfortunately this article is no longer available on the SOS Research site, I have reposted it here. http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/a-door-to-advocacy-and-leadership-for.html

I've been meaning to talk about this for a while but things have just gotten away from me. Karen Krejcha, who blogs at Aspirations ( http://www.aspierations.blogspot.com/ ) has written a fascinating couple of articles called; Soothing and Self Stimming Behaviours in our Family Part 1 Part 2 These articles are both incredibly well thought out and cover a whole range of stimming with plenty of real-life examples. They are well worth a read.

Before we begin, I'll just point out that this is a guest post - in fact, it's my first ever guest post on this blog - so I haven't actually read this book myself - YET! Please welcome Danette... Danette M. Schott is founder of S-O-S Research and blogs at Help! S-O-S for Parents . She is the mother of two children adopted from Russia and personal need has required her to research a variety of special needs issues. The following book review and interview is reprinted with permission. People with Asperger's (AS) and high functioning autism (HFA) are all around us, whether you are aware of this or not. She may be the person who appears to lack a sense of humor, is overly anxious, or seems emotionally detached. Or he may be the person who only talks about cars, appears to be very logical, or doesn't hold eye contact. But people with AS and HFA also have strengths and gifts that Rudy Simone spells out in her first chapter in " Asperger's on the Job ."

Introduction Ok, this is probably going to be a controversial post so I'll get a few things out of the way before I begin. Just a reminder that I am not a doctor - no medical advice from me should ever be taken seriously - go see a professional before you take any medication. My stance on medication: I'm not anti-medication but I am anti-harm. It's my belief that the only reason a child should be on medication is if it is doing them more good than harm. As I write this, my youngest child has just been diagnosed with ... well, nothing in particular. Our pediatric psychologist surprised us by simply saying that since it was obvious that he had emotional issues, he should go on Risperdal . I'll admit to being quite stunned. I had expected a recommendation of behavioural therapy of some kind - not a drug-based "quick fix". I'd heard some horror stories about the drug but then, being a balanced person, I knew that every drug, particularly those used in chil

I'm often asked to contribute ideas and concepts to assist others in writing situations involving people with Asperger's and other ASDs. I find these questions quite interesting because they get me to look into areas of my past which I've "moved-on" from. Sometimes looking at these situations with fresh eyes helps me to understand myself better and quite often it makes me cringe. Often, as is the case here, it highlights things that I just haven't covered properly on the blog. The question I was asked this time was about how an autistic person would prepare for a first date in terms of clothes and gift shopping. The presumption is that we're talking about a male on a first date. Is it a date? For a start, it's quite probable that the person wouldn't know whether it was a date or just "going out". I know that in society, these terms are often interchangeable but to a person on the spectrum who is very word-specific, they might not be. I ca

My memory is different, there's no doubt about it. On the one hand, it seems amazing. I can remember "whole conversations" which took place years ago, I can quote from literally thousands of films but ask me what someone's name is or ask me to get some things from the shops and I'll draw a blank. In fact, face to face conversations with me at work quite often involve me subconsciously using my hands to do gestures of long hair, or glasses simply because I've forgotten the name of the person I'm trying to describe.  It's also a common sight at our local shops to see me standing around counting my fingers. I know that I've got to get five things at the shop but I can only remember three of them. Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay Repetition I think that a lot of my memory is based on repetition. That's no revelation really, rote learning has been around for years and despite the claims that rote learning provides only lists, not concepts, it

This month's First things First post is by Amy Sheridan. Unfortunately Amy's Blog no longer exists, so you can't read the original posts but you can still read my thoughts which are inspired by her article.  Her article was called: Sick and Tired How A Single Mother of a Special Needs Child Deals with Sudden Illness My Thoughts One of the things that struck me about Amy's article is that it deals with single-parenthood. I'm sure that at times, most parents feel like single parents. I know that my wife often does, particularly when I leave before the kids wake up and I return home with only an hour or two to spare. I take great pains to ensure that I have no weekend activities - at least not activities without my family - but sometimes work and other commitments manage to consume those too. I grew up with both of my parents married. They're still married today. My father used to leave for work before I awoke and he put himself through night-school, so we did