The dangers of looking Autistic in front of police

A while back I felt it was time to have a serious discussion with my son.

The letter I wish I had read when my children were diagnosed with Autism

This article was moved to michellesuttonwrites.com

http://michellesuttonwrites.com/2015/11/16/the-letter-i-wish-i-had-read-when-my-children-were-diagnosed-with-autism/

When the mouth says something different than the mind is thinking

Tonight MissG was having a really tough time coping with the noise in the house, and was barely "holding it together" when a ball accidentally bumped her on the head. It wasn't a big bump to cause physical pain, but she was very upset. A outburst followed, and MissG took herself off to her room to be alone for a while. 


After a few minutes I went to her and asked if she would like a hug, as she often appreciates some deep pressure squeezes when she is stressed. She replied "leave me alone". So I quietly left. 

When she came out she wanted to talk to me. She asked me to sit with her, and she told me that when she said "leave me alone" she had meant to say "I do want a hug".  

I asked her if she often found herself saying things that weren't what she wanted to say. She said "no" and then she said "but when I yelled 'I hate you' to E when the ball bumped me I meant to say 'I am OK'." 

We talked about this for a while, and I told her I knew of other Autistic people who who find it hard to get their mouths to say what they want to say when they are stressed. I told her about writing to communicate. She asked what to do if you can't write yet. I told her some people use pictures to communicate. She thought about that for a while, then said she wanted to tell E she didn't mean to say "I hate you". 


After she went to explain to E and she felt things were restored between them, she asked to draw pictures of her feelings. 

We got out some coloured paper and she drew some feelings. I asked her if she wanted to use her pictures to help let people know what she wants to say if she gets stressed. 

She loved the idea, so we set about putting together a book of feelings for MissG to use when she has trouble making her mouth say the same thing her mind is thinking. 


 The images in this post are the pictures MissG drew of how she feels at different times. Each has a caption written by me so that the people MissG shows the picture to knows what she means by them. There is a "title page" that says "MY FEELINGS" and has a few different pictures of faces on it. There is a yellow page with a smiling face that says 'I am happy'. Then a green page that has a face with a small smile that says 'I am OK'. Next is a pink page that has a picture of a person with their mouth open and hands on their cheeks that says 'I'm so surprised'. Following that is a light brown page with a face with an open mouth and eyebrows raised that says 'I wasn't expecting that!'. Next is a purple page picturing a face with downturned mouth and two tears under each eye that says 'I am sad'. A grey page follows showing a face with a downturned mouth and eyebrows close to the eyes that says 'I'm feeling cross'. The next picture is on dark brown paper, there is a picture of two people and a cat standing next to a fish tank, one person looks happy and one looks sad, the caption says 'I'm feeling a little disappointed'. The last picture is on blue paper and is of a person with wide eyes and a flat line mouth, the person has big ears and is holding their hands over their ears, it says 'That was too LOUD'.

The pictures and information in this post are all shared with MissG's permission.

The day I told her she is Autistic

This post has been moved to michellesuttonwrites.com

http://michellesuttonwrites.com/2015/11/20/the-day-i-told-her-she-is-autistic/

Dear 50 Cent

Dear 50 Cent,

your recent tweet of "Yeah just saw your picture fool you look autistic" in response to a person who was rude to you makes me want to ask you a question.

Which of my children looks Autistic to you?

I'll give you a hint- you can choose two of them. Yep, that's right. Two of my five children are Autistic. And since you know what Autistic looks like, I'll bet you can tell which ones, right?

Oh, and in response to the comment you made about not wanting special ed kids on your timeline.....  I thought you should know that neither of my Autistic kids are in "special ed" classes. They do need a bit of extra support socially and for sensory issues, but they are both bright kids who are progressing very well academically.

Can you see why your comments were so offensive? Just in case you can't, I'll explain.

You see, in a society where governments think it's ok to take away the funding that supports our kids in their education, and in which juries acquit parents who are known to have caged their Autistic children, our kids could use the help of celebrities like you. But instead of help you gave them small minded, incorrect, stereotype based criticism. In front of more than 6 million twitter followers.

I am glad you have removed the comments. But you know what? All removing them does is make it look like you want the whole situation to go away. I think Autistic people deserve better than that. While your comments are in no way a reflection on them, they are an insult and an offence. Whether you realised it or not when you made them, your comments were hurtful. I teach my children that when they hurt someone they need to apologise in order to restore the trust in the relationship. I'd like to suggest that you should do this too.

Sincerely,
Michelle

Q&A 4: What is your greatest need?

For April Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month, I am endeavouring to answer some questions to help those who do not have much experience with Autism understand more what it is and how it affects lives. To do this I've enlisted the help of some friends through my Facebook page and a couple of support groups I am part of.  Today, I am bringing some answers from parents of Autistic kids to the question "As a parent of a child with ASD, what is the greatest need you have?"

Q&A 3: What is a good way to teach my non Autistic kids about Autism?

On my Facebook page, I asked "As a parent of children who do not have ASD, or as a person who has little or no knowledge of ASD, what do you most want to know/understand about Autism?".  I've written two posts already responding to some of the questions people asked. This post will respond to those who wanted to know about how to teach their non Autistic kids about Autism, and how to support ASD kids who visit their home to spend time with their nonASD kids. 

Q&A 2: What can I do to help you and your Autistic children when we are around them?

When I asked.... As a parent of children who do not have ASD, or as a person who has little or no knowledge of ASD, what do you most want to know/understand about Autism?...  I got a few different answers. The most common theme was what do we do when we are around you and your kids?

Q&A 1: How do Autistic children see the world?

The first question I asked in my series of questions this April was- As a parent of children who do not have ASD, or as a person who has little or no knowledge of ASD, what do you most want to know/understand about Autism?

Doing the hard yards

Hubby and I have been talking about G today. We don't often get a lot of time to really talk things through, so when we do we tend to go to the important stuff first.

A great take on Autism

I don't have a lot to say today, but I do want to share something that someone else said.  I came across this great little video, made by a young lady named Rosie who has Aspergers Syndrome. It is called My Autism and Me and you can view it by clicking here. Rosie is my hero for the week!

Lefthandedness, and other things that should be hidden

4 year old G is pretty much ambidextrous. It's a handy skill, really. She draws with both hands, she eats with both hands, she can ride her scooter equally well leading with either foot. She seems to prefer to write her name with her left hand.

"She is Autistic"

I talked a few posts ago about how it can be a real shock to receive a diagnosis for your child. I want to go into that a bit more. First some history.....

So what exactly are we dealing with here?

I have 5 kids. They are all awesome. A.W.E.S.O.M.E.