Life with Aspergers

This is part two of the "Showing her appreciation" series which is aimed at helping males with Aspergers syndrome understand what is needed to keep the neurotypical females in our lives happy. Last time we talked about flowers . Most of what was said there is true for other kinds of gifts too, like chocolates and jewelery. I'm not suggesting that you "buy your partners off" but simply that everyone appreciates ah-hoc gifts which show that you were thinking of her. If you were put off by the materialism of last time, you'll be relieved to know that this time it's "free" - but it's much harder to do. The Past I used to treat work-time as absolutely sacred. I work my allotted hours and more without overtime pay because it's part of my committment to the job. I've got staying power and I've been in the same job for the last eleven years.  Like many men, I'm often said to be "married to the job". My job invo...

I was really looking forward to this book by the co-author of the excellent “Oasis Guide to Aspergers Syndrome”.  While there’s a lot of general information out there on Aspergers Syndrome there isn’t so much on adaptations for specific life skills. I was hopeful that this book would fill the gap. I guess the best way to describe the book is like one of the better roller coasters at a theme park.  It’s got a great name which shows a lot of promise, so everyone lines up.  You face a seemingly interminable wait to get to the coaster but when you finally get on you go “wow... this was really worthwhile”.  Then it abruptly ends making you wish that there was more. The book is 330 pages long, not including the index, templates and notes sections. The first 140 pages contains a description of Aspergers syndrome and associated conditions.  It’s full of statistics and quotes and I’m sure that it’s very good information but it’s not what the book is supposed to be abo...

I'm guest posting over at Specialism today. The article is:  How Can Scouting Help Children with Special Needs? If you’re like I was and have never been involved with scouting, you probably have the impression that scouting is all about camping and testosterone and that there is absolutely no place for children with special needs.   More...

Kids on the autism spectrum have a lot of difficulty brushing their teeth. That's because there are so many sensitive areas in the mouth, because toothpaste has a very strong smell and because as a general rule, we don't teach dental hygiene well enough to kids on the spectrum. Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay The most common problems that kids and adults have with brushing their teeth are as follows; knowing when to do it knowing when to stop brush texture and pressure the taste of toothpaste other forms of dental hygiene cleaning and cleaning everything away The reason that I've broken this up into so many steps is that children with autism don't always pick these things up naturally just by watching others. Often, you really do have to break up "simple tasks" into steps. Knowing when to do it Apart from the obvious routine of every morning and/or every night (nights are generally better), there's a few other things that need to be hand...

Links:   IMDB  /  Rotten Tomatoes : Rating 53% Director:  Petter Næss Starring:  Josh Hartnett, Radha Mitchell, Gary Cole, Sheila Kelley, Erica Leerhsen, John Carroll Lynch, Nate Mooney, Rusty Schwimmer, Robert Wisdom, Allen Evangelista, Kelly B. Eviston, Jhon Goodwin, Christa Campbell Until recently, we only had a few films about individuals who were different. There were those which were "clearly stated", like Rain Man and some which were not so obvious like Benny & Joon  and Harold and Maude . Somewhere in the new millennium, things changed and "weird" characters became interesting. Personally, I blame the TV show " Monk " for starting the trend. Since then there have been quite a few films and television series which focus on unique individuals including; Adam , Mary and Max , Napoleon Dynamite ,  House and The Big Bang Theory . Had it been released during the "dry" period, Mozart and the Whale would have been a v...