Autism and Navigating Social Circles Solo There’s huge difference between five and fifteen. What do I mean? I’m discussing a rather typical issue for a teenager, learning how to navigate social circles. And, learning how to do it solo, without mom (or dad) around. At age five, I was much more present, first hand, to navigate my son’s social circles. To assist, to teach, and to protect. I was either present or informed by facilitators of how my son navigated social contacts. Then what happened? He grew up. He’s a teenager now, he’s … [Read more...]
04
Nov 2018
The Fine Line Between a Teenager with Autism and Politics In honor of the upcoming mid-term elections… My fifteen-year-old with mild autism likes to discuss politics. Was this always the case? No. When he was in middle school, his history teacher gave them a homework assignment—watch the debates between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump and report on them. That’s where it all began with my child. What happened? He became interested in politics. Additionally, I listen to NPR in the morning. My son began to tune into the political stories … [Read more...]
29
Oct 2018
Autism and Vacations My son loves to travel. He got that love to travel from his parents. A few years ago, my son and I took a road trip together—just the two of us. We hit some great Western states and tourist stops. We drove a lot in those twelve days. My son was eleven. We had taken many family trips before that age, but I feel that trip really made my son into a vacation-lover. A traveler. A planner of future vacations. What exactly is a planner of future vacations? A bucket list, I suppose you can call it. I had no problem with my … [Read more...]
22
Oct 2018
How to Deal with Meltdowns As I prepare to talk about how to work with children on the autism spectrum with my co-workers and staff at my job, it made me think about one of the many key elements… how to handle a child’s meltdown. What’s my job? I work at a gym's child care, the place where you can check in your three-month-old to 13 year old while you workout. We're not taking care of your kids like a school. We try to do activities with the kids, however, (IMHO) our main job is the safety of our kids. Parents have signed them over to us … [Read more...]
14
Oct 2018
When Autism Looks Like OCD This blog post only pertains to my son. I am in no way saying that autism is OCD, or OCD is autism, or even that OCD is a typical characteristic found on the autism spectrum. This post is simply about my own observations. Why am I talking about OCD? Because sometimes my son acts like he has OCD. He doesn’t. He has autism. And, someone with a professional degree may be able to explain why OCD looks like autism, or OCD can be on the spectrum, or whatever. But, here’s what I’ve noticed about my son and what I do … [Read more...]
02
Oct 2018
Autism and the New School Year I waited a bit before reporting on my child’s new school year. What happened last year? Last year was my son’s freshman year. It was the first time he had gone to school without an aide. He was fourteen when he began school (he turned fifteen in February). Within two months, he changed his “look.” (He suddenly went from a shorts-wearing kid to a pants-wearing kid, he grew out his hair, and his attitude, well, teenagers can be surly, can’t they?) The summer before freshman year, he took a health … [Read more...]
24
Sep 2018
Dissolving Friendships with Kids on the Autism Spectrum We all have friendships. And, somewhere along the way many of us have had to walk away from a friendship or two—for whatever reason. Friendships happen in many ways, with or without our kids. With kids, I’d like to address two situations… One is when parents are friends, and they get their children together. The children may or may not like each other, but the parents like each other. It works out well when the kids do get along, of course. A second situation is what if kids like … [Read more...]
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