Life with Aspergers

Anxiety is a constant companion in our family. Both of my kids suffer badly from anxiety and it affects many aspects of their lives. As parents, we do our best to spot potential anxiety-inducing events ahead of time and either avoid them altogether or at least adjust our kids’ perceptions of those events to reduce the impact. The anxiety that my eldest son reacts most to comes from direct environmental factors which impact his senses. For example, some sounds, sights, smells, touch, taste, texture and spacial awareness.  In particular, anything that could cause pain is a high anxiety event, even if it doesn't actually cause any pain. As a result, many things are a nightmare, mealtimes for example, where the merest differences in texture (or sign, smell or God forbid, taste) will render even the tastiest of meals inedible. My son loves McDonalds but is yet to eat a hamburger, he lives off chicken nuggets and fries. Similarly, when it comes to pizza, we're still tr...

One of the most common complaints I hear from parents is that the other parent does not believe in the label. It's very common and there are some very good reasons why this is so.  In fact, believe it or not, somewhere between 2004-2005, I was a non-believer.  My latest article at Special-ism discusses this problem.  It outlines the reasons why this is so common and what to look for in your partner's background.  More importantly though, it points out many of the ways in which you can provide your child with much needed early intervention without the need for a label. Click on through to read the article at Special-ism. When Parents Disagree – Focus on Treatment http://special-ism.com/when-parents-disagree-focus-on-treatment/ Don't forget, you can access all my past articles at Special-ism here . and you can obtain a free eBook version of my earlier articles via the Google Play store or direct link here .

My latest post out at Special-ism is about changing your child's behavior to attract less attention. I'm always encouraging people within the autism community to be proud of themselves and to be themselves.  The problem is that behavior that is too far "outside the norm" can draw a lot of unwanted attention. The best thing to do is to tread a cautious middle-ground and that's the point of the post, to show ways that normal autistic behaviors can be modified to become less noticeable. Hop over to Special-ism for a read; Change Your Child’s Behavior to Attract Less Attention http://special-ism.com/change-your-childs-behavior-to-attract-less-attention/

My latest post over at special-ism is about the dangers of being the class clown.  There's nothing wrong with being "class clown" if you play it safe but sometimes it's not so easy to be safe.  Click here to read the article. http://special-ism.com/is-your-child-a-class-clown-to-gain-acceptance/ I was a class clown myself for many years and I still have my homework diaries full of fun commentary (and numerous reprimands from my teachers to prove it.  They were always telling me that "you don't have to be anyone else, just be yourself".  I never understood what they were saying - or why they were harping on about it at school but now it makes a bit more sense. I even have a great written comment from one teacher which says " Gavin spends too much time making futile attempts to amuse his classmates. I would suggest spending more time be spent in the pursuit of knowledge " (Yes, it has a grammatical error in it because the teacher had rea...

When I was four, my parents got me a border collie cross something (Labrador, I think). It was an inspired decision. Spot became my "everywhere friend" and we had lots of adventures together. In fact, we became inseparable for the next eighteen years. In the course of those eighteen years, Spot was a comfort, a companion, a friend that I could talk to and a playmate. He acted for my protection against bullies and managed to chase off a few snakes too.  There is no doubt in my mind that my life was much better because of spot. My next article over at Special-ism all about pets, big and small. Perhaps your special needs child is asking for a pet and you're putting it off because you're not sure whether it would be a good idea? Did you know that there are service dogs for people with autism? Do you want to know what they do? Head over to Special-ism to have a read; From Fish to Dogs – Selecting a Therapeutic Pet http://special-ism.com/from-fish-to-dogs-th...

So, you've been looking through the lists of aspie traits and you've found one called "taking things literally". You read about it and it says,  'The person may not understand jokes, sarcasm or figures of speech, such as, "It's raining cats and dogs."' They might look outside for falling animals.... Awwww.... How cute. So, you ignore it and move on to the  next symptom. My latest post over at Special-ism looks at an example of what taking things literally really means and why it's important to take this issue seriously; Hop over and read it; Taking Things Literally; An Issue that Matters by Gavin Bollard http://special-ism.com/why-taking-things-literally-is-an-issue-that-matters/

My latest post on Special-ism is now available.  It's all about how we changed our kids school lunches to be more "squish and forget" friendly. If your child's school bag is always coming home with dozens of squashed and stinky mouldy sandwiches in it, then these changes could work for you too. Click over to Special-ism to read the post .

My  Latest Post over at Special-ism is now up; It's called; " Kids with Isms can benefit from using Lists " Please have a look at it. It's all about how lists are one of the best tools for children (and adults) with Asperger's Syndrome and Autism and other similar conditions can really benefit from using lists as management tools.  If you're the parent of a very young child on the spectrum, this is still worth a read because I describe some pre-verbal lists which you may find your child is already using.

My latest article; Recognising Sensory Overload, is now available at Special-ism. http://special-ism.com/recognising-sensory-overload/ It's worth a read especially if you have a child who puts his/her hands over their ears frequently.

My latest post on Special-ism is now available. Helping Your Special Needs Child to See Past their Own Point of View http://special-ism.com/helping-your-special-needs-child-to-see-past-their-own-point-of-view/ It covers the need to understand the concept of individuality and the way this and other factors can lead us to have different values and expectations. I look at the problems of "invisible" values and the difficulty in understanding how different people have different sensitivities. Hop on over to have a read .