One of my absolute favorite things about our new life in Australia is that we’ve made best friends with the neighbours, who have several kids close in age to both of my children. All of our kids are neurodivergent and watching these gorgeous ND friendships flourish is giving me life every day. (All of this … Read more
Imagine that you sit down to watch a movie. You pop yourself a bowl of popcorn to go with it…maybe your favorite toppings, whether salt and butter or marshmallow or Parmesan cheese or something else…you pick up the remote, hit play, and get ready to watch the movie while eating your popcorn. Then somebody takes … Read more
One of my kids who does not like to write and feels particularly threatened by writing, really does like to have some kind of transition object to hold in the hallway while we walk from their class to my therapy gym. We have experimented with lots of different options. A couple of months ago I … Read more
This is a Spanish language translation of this post, which is in English. Post traducido del original en Ingles. En lo particular no me gusta mucho utilizar el término “espectro autista” porque desgraciadamente se sigue utilizando para discriminar o desacreditar autistas. La experiencia autista es muy distinta de persona a persona como se explica en … Read more
This is a Spanish language translation of this post, which is in English. Post traducido del original en Ingles. “Querido Autismo, Eres la razón por la que mi pequeñito se apasiona intensamente por temas específicos de una forma particular. Desde que era chiquitito ha sido así, por cómo la configuración de su cerebro ha sido … Read more
This is a Spanish language translation of this post, which is in English. Post traducido del original en Ingles. Hoy es el Día Mundial del Autismo y como tal hoy quiero hablar de las diferentes formas en que nos identificamos a lxs autistas. En esta página verán que el término que más usaré será “autista” … Read more
“I want you to build a tower,” I say. You agree, and you stand up to go get the bucket of blocks off the shelf. I shake my head sternly. “No. Did I tell you you could get up? Sit down. Build a tower.” You look confused. You point over at the bucket of blocks. … Read more
I want you to imagine for a moment that…everything is really good right now. Imagine that all the things on your to-do list that feel like “have to”s (instead of “get to”s) are taken care of. Someone is going to bring you dinner and it’s food you love and your body is hungry for it. … Read more
If you are pursuing diagnosis for your neurodivergent child, it’s okay to take your neuro-affirming lens back “off” in order to talk to the doctor about your child. What I mean is that you are not a bad parent or you don’t love your child less if you play the system by its own rules. … Read more
At my lecture last Friday, during the Q&A session, somebody asked me if I had any ideas for connecting meaningfully and playfully in therapy with a child whose special interest was vacuums, and who spent most of the session searching the clinic in hopes of finding a vacuum. I gave a few ideas right off … Read more