I sometimes see people ask things like “How can I increase connection with my child?” so I wanted to share one simple game/example that has meant a lot to me and my kids: I pretend they’re a baby. Preemptively, I mean, not when they do baby talk or pretend to be a baby (although I … Read more
My son huffed at a puddle that he didn’t want to be there the other day and said, “The rain is making bad choices!” It made me laugh, because it was cute and funny. And then it made me think, because most of the adults I know who say, “___ is making bad choices,” are … Read more
Continuing discussion of Autistic intersectionality… In studies examining the relationship between two things, it’s important to understand the directionality of the relationship. Just because all A are B, doesn’t mean that all B are A. That being said, there *is* actually a correlation in both directions when it comes to autism and gender diversity: people … Read more
“Did you know,” he tells me, his feet kicking off the ground to push the swing again, “that if you wake up before 3 AM, there’s a 1 in 3 chance it’s because you heard somebody breaking into your house?” “Hmmm,” I answer reflexively. I’m sitting on the floor with my knees up, facing in … Read more
In continuing discussing about intersectionality, today’s discussion is about Autism and sex. Note that I am using the term “sex” here because I will be doing a separate post about autism and gender, which is its own complicated subject. What this post is about is not autistic people having sex or autistic people’s sexuality (although … Read more
Autism does not just affect white boys. But historically, the diagnostic criteria has been focused around how it presents in white children (especially boys — but that will be the topic tomorrow). Some good news is that recently, and looking at trends over the years, this seems to be changing. For the first time in … Read more
This is going to be very long. And this was the hardest post to write this month. I sat down to write it three or four times before I was actually able to make myself do so. I’m going to do my absolute best to write it with grace and empathy; I hope you will … Read more
Interoception may not even be a word you’ve ever heard before, let alone know what it means. At its most basic, interoception is “inner body sense”. On top of the five senses that we all know and learned about, there are other senses as well. Interoception is the one that, for example, can tell you … Read more
Remember that I had a post a few days ago about classifications of autism — i.e., “mild” vs “severe”, or “high functioning” vs “low functioning”. Well, for some people, Asperger’s goes into those types of categories. Some quick facts about Asperger’s: -It’s usually utilized as a quick shorthand for “mild autism”. -It’s sometimes even utilized … Read more
Something I’ve been trying out lately is counting to a hundred. I do it when I’m impatient with my kids for no actual reason. So I’m not saying this is for when you actually have somewhere you need to be. I’m thinking of times when I’m taking my kid home from daycare and she stops … Read more