Skip to main content

World Autism Awareness Day

Hi everyone, today's post is a little more personal than I've posted in the past.  Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and I wanted to ask a bit of a favor of you:  remember autism.  From recent reports, this condition now affects 1 child in 88 born today (1 in 54 boys).

And honestly, it's the little things that really help the most:
  • If you see a mom having trouble with her child in a store, when the child is throwing a tantrum or simply not listening, it's possible that mother is dealing with an autistic child who's having a sensory meltdown.  This happens when the kid's senses are out of whack, making them hypersensitive to some stimuli (various noises, too much visual activity, even the feeling of some clothing fabrics or textures of foods can be triggers) and it actually causes them pain.
  • If you see a parent throwing a fit because the food her child received at a restaurant contains gluten or casein, keep in mind that omitting those proteins may be what's keeping her child from becoming uncontrollable (I'd imagine this one is more understandable for people reading this blog).
  • If you see a kid who's "stimming," or shaking their hands around or doing something that looks like grabbing at imaginary butterflies, don't stare or get uncomfortable - this is the way that many autistic kids blow off a little steam, like tapping a pencil or drumming your fingers.
  • If you hear a child grunting, squealing, or squawking and it is annoying you, think about how annoying it must be to be that child and not be able to form words.  Many autistics are non-communicative because they physically can't speak, even though they may have a lot to say.
  • If you see a kid who's ignoring you when you try to be friendly and say hi, they may not just be rude or insensitive, they may be autistic with severe social issues and not understand the reason behind being friendly or social, so they simply aren't.  Many autistic kids have to intellectually learn the social cues that neurotypical folks take for granted.
There's so much more I could go into here, but it's really important that, especially with the rising rates of autism in the world, we understand that these kids need some different sorts of understanding.  If you'd like to look into this more, I highly recommend the book: Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm.  It's short and to the point, but it'll explain a lot of the stuff I just mentioned and more.

Thanks!  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Caffeine and Cortisol - a 30-Day Experiment

No Caffeine for Me! Today, I began upon a 30-day experiment to reduce my cortisol levels by removing coffee from my diet. The goal is to see how it might be affecting my cognitive function and my belly fat. Cortisol is a hormone that is related to stress .  At a very basic level, cortisol is created as a response to stressors in our environment.  Back when we were still chucking spears at deer and chasing down antelope, cortisol was helping to preserve our lives by giving us quick energy by signalling to our livers that it was time to engage in a process known as gluconeogenesis. This process is basically the breakdown of amino acids, the building blocks of protein, into glucose - one of the two monosaccharides (the healthy one) that our bodies use for fuel. Picture this - you're walking across the street, enjoying the day, when suddenly some inattentive driver tries to turn and doesn't see you.  Your heart rate speeds up, and you get a little burst of speed to quickly sp...
18 comments
Read more

Capture Those Crazy Ideas with Connected Mind

Are you one of those people whose brainstorming abilities are barely under control?  When you have an idea, do the details come pouring forth in a tidal wave, and get lost as they crash to the shore and pour back into the sea? That is me in a nutshell.  I'm full of ideas, but when they come it's hard for me to get them under control and organize anything.  I've tried notepads, using my good friend Evernote , and a whole host of other stuff to get those crazy ideas under control and in some semblance of readability.  But that's tough sometimes when you have eighty things going on at once.  Enter my new favorite tool, the mind map .  I don't know if you've ever come across this concept, but basically it's something like this:   The basic idea is that the shape at the middle is the "main topic" at hand.  The branches out from the main topic are the subtopics, and then the smaller branches are the details, etc. It's a simple enough conc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Your Goals Might Not Be My Goals

I got a tweet to my @Train4AutismCLB account the other day, just out of the blue, that really got me thinking about goals and motivations.  For those who aren't in the autism community, there's a bit of a rift regarding the charity Autism Speaks, which is the biggest, most visible autism charity out there.  Many people who are higher-functioning autistics believe that one of the organization's stated goals of "curing" autism would only take away a facet of their personalities that make them what they are.  Then there are those who would love to have a cure for autism or at least some way to relieve some of the nastier aspects of autism and help their loved ones to have an easier time functioning in today's society.  It's a fine line, no doubt.  But the tweet I got was from someone whose profile said they were an aspie, which is shorthand for someone with Asperger's Syndrome.  This is a high-functioning form of autism where people are very smar...
2 comments
Read more