External link back to this interesting article.
Exercise gives children with autism jump on social skills by Ann Griswold
My son did ABA Therapy and continues with a gross motor body break every 20 minutes to help keep him regulated. It really, really works!
Whatever you need to do to make ABA therapy happen for your kiddo, or someone you know, (if they aren’t already involved with it) then do it because it is completely worth it!
Query in Autism Science: What, exactly, is Autism?
From Spectrum News Article by Jessica Wright
Let’s Stop Treating Autism as Abnormal
From qz.com (Quartz) and written by Dr. Sarah C. Bauer
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Both are great, and interesting, articles and hit upon thoughts/opinions I’ve had for a very long time!
I completely dislike that I am put in a position to call my son abnormal or whatever slightly derogatory, but socially acceptable, term for his social issues or everyday challenges.
(And I when I say dislike what I really mean is “I”m ready to square up to any f***er who has crappy, ignorant things to say about him”).
I just wish so badly every single day that there were easier ways for people to become informed about Autism, and its vast broadness!
Because realistically just like “normal” *slight disdain inject here* individuals no two people are exactly the same so why should everyone who is diagnosed with a Spectrum Disorder be as well. It’s completely ludicrous!!
Day 10 ~ Write about something for which you feel strongly
Autism awareness for the general populace and better education for parents/family members of people who are diagnosed on the spectrum. I’ve been very fortunate to have several professionals working with my son who are more than willing to go above and beyond what their job description is to help me understand my son and how deal with all sorts of behaviours/situations.
I have also had the extreme displeasure of dealing with professionals who have treated me like an idiot for not knowing certain things or refusing to hear my thoughts about things to with my son at all. I know that I don’t know or get everything about my son, but come on at the end of the day I am the one spending all my time with him! This is close to every single day so I might have an inkling of how he works even if I don’t understand it, how to deal with, or the technical jargon for it.
Again, thankfully this isn’t the case at the moment and my son has a truly wonderful team (who devote way more time than I would ever expect!) working with him to make sure he has success and his area of needs met to the best of their ability.
After a diagnosis you are given such a vague set of directions and left to flounder in it.
And because each spectrum diagnosis is so different for each person there is a lot of information out there that might not even be pertinent to your situation!
I think that every family that has someone on the spectrum should have access to some form of counseling (for free or funded somehow) or one-on-one time with a Behaviour Consultant on a regular basis so a family can be better informed and not have to wad through completely useless information or not know how to apply specific strategies/info to your situation. This would eliminate so much confusion and frustration for both family members and the person with Autism.
Just a quick post as I am working on, or supposed to be working on I should say, an essay for Biology. In some of my research I came across this article (based on a U.S. study) and I found it extremely interesting, and helpful with my assignment to a degree.
The article talks about some new studies that are out that show up to 1,000 genes that may attribute to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I, personally, find this fascinating and I am curious how this could affect the apparently growing number of individuals who are diagnosed with ASD. Being able to look at someones DNA and see how exactly you could help them, via gene therapy or a specific treatment is amazing!!
The article is here: Discovery of 100-Plus Genes Tied to Autism May Improve Treatments
I will definitely be keeping an eye on this in the future now that I know about it!
