Life with Aspergers

I often find myself writing articles aimed at promoting understanding between people with Asperger's syndrome and people without. Usually my posts explain a particular reaction or an expression and nearly always, I'm asking for partners to be more understanding of differences rather than to make changes to themselves. Today is going to be different. Today I want to talk to you, to people with Asperger's Syndrome, about how some personal changes can make a real difference to your life. Asperger's syndrome can present many challenges. In particular, sensitivities to noise, smell and light can make it very difficult to perform "normal everyday" tasks. Parenting and teaching styles can also impact how children interact with their peers and their environment on a permanent basis. Image by Christian Bodhi from Pixabay A child who is "mollycoddled" may grow up to be less adventurous than his peers. He may be less inclined to take risks and more ...

Temple Grandin is essentially the "mother" of modern autism. She's arguably the person most responsible for the recognition of autism as a condition which can not only be "lived with" but which provides benefits not otherwise found in society. Who is Temple Grandin? If you're wondering who Temple Grandin is, I'd like to direct your attention to the excellent 2010 HBO film starring Claire Danes. It's well worth a watch and will give you a great understanding and appreciation of Temple's place in the world of autism. You can watch the Trailer for the film here .   Temple Talks You can't get very far in autism research without discovering Temple Grandin and I think it's only fair to say that everyone connected to autism, to Asperger's syndrome or to Sensory processing difficulty should read at least one Temple Grandin book. Of course, not everyone is a reader and even among avid readers, it's not always easy to find the time to sit ...

Taking ownership of problems is something that is important in every relationship but it's especially important in a  relationship  where one or more partners have Autism Spectrum Disorders, including Asperger's syndrome. This is because partners with ASDs have low tolerances for specific things, such as certain smells, sounds, events or arrangements. At the same time, people with ASDs are often the loudest or most disturbing people in a room due to their stimming behaviours or misunderstanding of social "norms". In this post, aimed at all parts of the relationship (neurotypical, ASD, male and female) I want to provide a tips on ownership which may make the "road" less bumpy What is meant by "Ownership"? So often, arguments in relationships include the words;  "You made me do ...."   or "You made me feel....". It's not true though, unless your partner is a mad scientist with access to your brain, a magician, a hypno...

Earlier this week in Sydney, our police fatally shot a woman who was wielding a knife . It later transpired that she had Asperger's syndrome. I didn't comment on it at the time as I was quite busy at work -- and I was also awaiting the backlash of comments to the effect that;  "the police could have shot her in the leg or tasered or tackled her rather than shooting to kill, therefore ALL police are bad" or  "all people with Asperger's syndrome can become knife wielding maniacs" To my surprise and delight, those responses weren't forthcoming.   Instead our media mainly discussed the difficulties that police face in situations like this and the problems that people with Asperger's syndrome have when it comes to understanding police direction. It was a very mature response from our media. I'm not going to go over things here because I didn't know Courtney, suffice to say that my heart goes out to  Courtney Topic's family . ...

This is a re-post of an article from September 2010 for "SOS Research Blog" which was on a site which no longer exists. The SOS project eventually became Special-Ism  which is a site maintained by a group of bloggers to provide insights into support for children with special needs. This post has been lightly edited from the original content. You can also download a free eBook (Volume 1 of my collected posts), from Google Books or directly in ePub , PDF or mobi Formats.  - Gavin Bollard January 2015. This post is part of the series titled “When One Door Closes, Another Door Opens,” where people reveal how their paths have changed since a child with special needs has entered their lives. ~Danette Schott (SOS Research Blog) We all have closed doors. I grew up being told by supportive grandparents that I’d be something special someday. They bandied around with ridiculous job titles such as “Prime Minister” even though I've never shown any interest in politics. G...

Please note: Under the DSM V, the concept of Asperger’s syndrome no longer exists. It is now simply referred to as Autism. Throughout this post, I use the word "Asperger's" because it's more frequently associated with the word "mild" but my comments here apply equally to both Asperger’s syndrome and autism.  You see it all the time on web forums,  things are going smoothly until a parent somewhere pipes up with the phrase, "I have a son who is mildly Asperger's. ..." and from there on, the group dissolves into two factions. One is continuing to remain loyal to the original purpose of the group, providing support and advice while the other is offended and is either busily discussing the semantics of the word "mildly" or tearing strips off the poor person who used the turn of phrase. It's also a turn of phrase that some people on the spectrum use to refer to themselves although this is much less  common.  What is "mild Asp...

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 .