Life with Aspergers

It's a phrase which seems to really infuriate a lot of members of the autism community, "we're all a little bit autistic" and yet, there's perhaps some truth to it.  In this post, we look at what it really means, where the dividing lines are and why it can be considered offensive.  The Autism Diagnosis Autism is diagnosed based on a specific set of criteria from the DSM, currently version 5. You can read this criteria in its correct form all over the web and you really should follow this. In fact, you should be diagnosed by an expert. In a "nutshell" though, autism is defined by the following; A Communications issues; Reductions in; back & forth conversation, eye contact, emotional communication, non-verbal communication, understanding of relationships, capability to make friends. B Behavioural issues; Stimming movements, echolia, resistance to change, fixed all-consuming special interests, sensory issues. C Removing Misdiagnosis To...

Crystal Puzzle: Growing Up with a Sister with Asperger's by Ashley Nance Crystal Puzzle is a very interesting book which offers a rather different point of view to the usual autism biography story. Normally these books are written by one of three people; the person with Asperger's Syndrome, that person's mother or that person's doctor.  In this case the book has been written from the point of view of the sister (Ashley) of the person with Asperger's Syndrome (Crystal).  What makes this approach so interesting is that both Ashley and Crystal grow up through the course of the book and as they do so, their points of view and opinions change.  Fair Warning Before I start talking about the book, there are two things which I want to point out; Christian Language: There are quite a few instances in the book where Ashley talks very openly about religion and a couple of passages feel like sermons.  Since religion is a very personal thing, some people m...

I just wanted to spend a few minutes discussing the Autism Devotion project and highlighting some of the fantastic posts we've had so far; The aims of the project To highlight concrete examples of situations where people with Autism, including Aspergers syndrome, have demonstrated emotion or empathy with particular focus on situations in which those emotions may not have been recognised. It is hoped that parents, siblings, family, friends and co-workers of people on the autism spectrum will be able to use some of these examples to better understand the emotional communication that is taking place in their everyday lives. The Posts so far Please have a look at these amazing posts, leave comments, like, Google+, tweet and share around. We want to reach as many people as possible.  Also; if I've missed anyone, please let me know. On "This is not what I signed up for" Autism Devotion: Helping On "Unstrange Mind" Autism Devotion: Adult Advocat...

My wife and I went out to dinner last weekend, to celebrate her birthday. My eldest finished his dinner quickly and didn't want any more to eat.  My youngest however was still keen to eat and had a couple of portions of mine. The eldest wandered over to the restaurant's fish tank, stayed for a second or two and then came running back to tell us, particularly his brother, about the fish.  At our urging, he went off again (he was very loud) and spent a few more seconds with the fish before coming back to explain their toileting habits to his brother. The pattern repeated over and over again and I could see that his brother was a little miffed by the constant banter and tugging.  He just wanted to finish his meal in peace. I watched the behaviour for quite a while and even though my wife and I said, on several occasions, "don't annoy your brother, can't you see he's eating", the "harassment" continued. I think we were all very grateful...

Hi and welcome to a new year.  This post marks the start of what will hopefully be an ongoing series showcasing the ways in which people with Autism express love and devotion.   Although they often write the words on cards, my children don't often directly tell my wife that they love her - at least, not without a lot of prompting or not without having some tempting candy either on offer or recently delivered.  They do love her though.  It's just sometimes a little hard to read the signs. "Come downstairs", she will often call, to silence.  Dragging them away from a video game is almost impossible - especially if it involves work of any kind.  It's one of the reasons that I always include the reason as part of my calls;  "Come downstairs, dinner is ready!" for example.  Of course, I have very little chance of getting the boys downstairs for anything that isn't to their advantage. I was sitting upstairs yesterday when my wife accidentally t...