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...]
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...]
21
May 2018
Autism Transitions This blog is more or less a follow-up to my last blog. I had alluded to transitions that relate to my son’s age—fifteen. My son recently transitioned to getting himself to school on his own (mostly) without help from Mom (he’s been on time since this transition, including making his own breakfast). We are also working on other transitions with our fifteen-year-old. What transitions? The first one was just a recent conversation, but a significant one. We discussed spending money on gifts for others—his own … [Read more...]
30
Apr 2018
Autism and Flight Changes My son used to have issues with unexpected changes. The unexpected would sometimes led to meltdowns. He just couldn't wrap his head around sudden change. Now that my child is a teenager, he has improved in that area. However, there was a time when an unexpected change would throw him. What happened? My son and I were traveling back from the East Coast at the end of June. When we arrived at the airport, we were informed that not only had the airline changed the type of plane we were about to fly in, but they changed … [Read more...]
23
Apr 2018
Autism and Puberty My son is fifteen-years-old. Which means…he’s in the throes of puberty. What have been some of his issues? Many of these are common issues of any child (in this case a male child) going through puberty: *Dealing with growing facial hair. Learn how to shave. We bought him an electric razor and my husband gave him a lesson. He does it himself now. *Dealing with other hair. This became a bit of an issue when my son decided to try to shave his legs (the ankle part). I asked him why he did that and he said he just wanted to … [Read more...]
09
Apr 2018
A Light Bulb Moment for Parent of Child with Autism I read this article the other day by a female adolescent with autism. I’ll post it below, because it was very revealing. What did it say? Well, this person with autism explained why she hates her parents. What? Hate is very strong word. Yet, when I read the article, I understood her point of view. Which was? She dearly loves her parents, but she struggles with their idea of her capabilities verses her very real need to download from the outside world in a safe place. She knows that … [Read more...]
11
Mar 2018
Autism and Sheldon Cooper Why do I have Sheldon Cooper on the brain? Sheldon Cooper is one of the main characters on the TV show The Big Bang Theory. I guess there are several reasons why I’ve had Sheldon Cooper on my brain lately. First, the regular season (Season 11) of Big Bang is back and I’ve watched two new episodes. Second, the recent discovery that my son is being bullied in one of classes. Third, I watched a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory spinoff called Young Sheldon. Fourth, I took my son to a train museum this past … [Read more...]
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