The Impacts of Not Curbing Behaviors Related to Autism With autism, comes behaviors. In general, when our kids are little, there are more behaviors. We, as parents, (along with the various facilitators who work with our children), have to deal with these behaviors. In an ideal world, we are all trained to handle most behaviors with our children, whether at home or out in the world. And, we want to work with our kids so they can overcome their challenges and be relatively functional and comfortable in society. As they grow older, we … [Read more...]
09
Sep 2018
Autism and Another Fund Raising Event I like to keep active on the fund raising front. I try to volunteer two or three times a year. One event I volunteer for every year is The Ed Asner Poker Tournament. Ed Asner is a huge supporter of the autism community. Additionally, he just began a non-profit called The Ed Asner Family Center. Their inaugural event was a summer camp for children on the spectrum. What is it like to volunteer for a fund raising event? It’s typically working behind-the-scenes. You arrive early. Sometimes, you … [Read more...]
02
Sep 2018
Autism and Impulses My son has always had impulsive behaviors. Many times they came from a place of impatience, he had trouble waiting for a conversation to end or for his turn to come while standing on a line. The impulse would be to interrupt or complain that he’d have to wait on a line. The line waiting time would entirely be spent complaining about waiting. Or, my son’s impulses would be quick responses when things were going badly. For example, if get got in trouble for something, he’d say something he’d almost immediately regret … [Read more...]
27
Aug 2018
What the Internet Thinks of Autism My son recently said to me, “The Internet thinks of autism as stupid people. Stupid and autism go hand in hand, on the Internet.” What? I asked him to clarify that statement. And, he did. He said, “When I read things on the Internet about autism, it seems like autism is called things like stupid. On the Internet. I’ve seen it a bunch of times. The Internet thinks autism means stupid.” How did I react to that? Surprised. Yet, on another hand I did get it because there is a lot of “bad” information on … [Read more...]
18
Aug 2018
Autism and High School Schedules This post is really a part two... One year of high school completed, and my son is about to begin year number two. During this time, I learned something about my son’s high school schedule. What have I learned? My son was a freshman this past school year. Last September, one month into high school, things weren’t going so well for him. His grades were low and he had a few issues with some of the teachers. I emailed the teachers to help straighten things out, but the IEP team decided to meet with one of … [Read more...]
22
Jul 2018
Autism and Managing Money I touched on this briefly not too long ago, but my son is learning about money. What is he learning? He’s learning that our money is not his money. He’s learning that—in reality—he doesn’t have any money. We have money to buy his food and clothes and school things and lots of other things, but there are times when we have to say “no” due to the money not being an endless pit. He’s learning that he’s not going to get everything he wants because we’re simply not going to pay for everything he wants. And, he is … [Read more...]
15
Jul 2018
Autism and High School Schedules After one year in high school, I’ve learned something about my son’s schedule. What have I learned? My son was a freshman this year. In September, one month into high school, things weren’t going so well for him. His grades were low and he had a few issues with some of the teachers. I emailed with a couple of them and straighten things out that way, but the IEP team had to meet with one of them. IMHO, this teacher was so particular and strict about how things had to be done in her classroom, that being … [Read more...]
Follow Us!