Another Autism Conference I recently attended my…well, I don’t really know how many conferences on autism I have attended. Let’s just say, it’s a double digit number. Anyway, I ventured down to Huntington Library in San Marino, California and attended the first day of the Profectum Conference (Honoring Individual Differences: The Gateway to Supporting Neurodiversity in Autism and Mental Health Treatment). I didn’t attend any autism-related conferences last year, so I was eager to get back to one. How was it? First of all, I was … [Read more...]
04
Jun 2017
Autism and Phone Data What is phone data? For those few out there who don’t know, phone data is the amount of gigabytes you use when you’re on a device that is connected to the Internet. One thing I learned long ago about my own phone data usage verses my son’s phone data usage (of course, this is ever since my son got his own phone in 2015) is that my son has the potential to use a lot more data than I use. Why is that? Many times in the past, my son will play a video game or watch something from You Tube on his phone. Not that he does … [Read more...]
23
Apr 2017
Spring Break with an Autistic Teenager This year’s spring break was active for us—especially since I have a teenager. Not that autism (for us, anyway) has everything to do with what activities we plan to do during spring break, but one thing I do like to keep in mind is to make sure my son with autism isn’t spending every free day playing video games. What did we do for spring break? Ever since I have known my husband, we have ventured to Arizona during the spring to watch spring training baseball games. My husband began this … [Read more...]
03
Apr 2017
Obsessions Can Be Fun Iʼve talked about obsessions before, but since they are a big part in the life of a person with autism, so I figure it’s worth talking about again…and again and again and again! Are all obsessions bad? Sometimes I feel like quoting Temple Grandin. “If your child has some kind of obsession, maybe try to cultivate it. You never know if that child has just invented something that will change the world." That is Templeʼs sentiment and I agree with it. So, no, I donʼt think all obsessions are bad. For the most part, my … [Read more...]
12
Dec 2016
An Autism-Friendship-related Challenge My son has a friend—which in itself is a big deal in the world of autism. And, it’s a big deal for our kid. My son has known a lot of kids, but has never had too many close friendships over the years. And, the “friends” he did have were mostly through social groups. He did stay in touch with one of them, and we see that friend every once in a while, but most of those have come and gone, for whatever reason(s). He especially never had a friend in the manner of, “Hey, mom, can I go over to … [Read more...]
17
Jul 2016
Autism and Summer Camps I am sending my son to a summer camp at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center for two weeks. This is the first time my son has been to a “real” camp. What did my son do during the previous summers? My son was always in an Extended School Year program. The idea behind children with autism attending ESY programs is to give them some structure during the long summer break. Many don’t do well during the 10 week break. They need to retain some “school type” situation. The rest of the summers were spent either vacationing or … [Read more...]
01
May 2016
Autism and the Sudden Death of a Teacher My son's 7th grade Computer Applications teacher died suddenly last weekend. What happened? The students and parents were informed that the teacher died of a sudden heart attack. It was a typical day on the Friday in question. My son had this teacher for fourth period, as per usual. The school broke for lunch after fourth period. During fifth period, this teacher began to not feel well. I don't know all of those details, but the students were asked to leave the class and an ambulance was … [Read more...]
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