Autism ‘Triad of Impairment’ Redefined: Lessons From John Simpson
John Simpson is a young man with Asperger Syndrome who resides in the
Autism News - Blog
Maureen Bennie’s blog on a wide variety of subjects pertaining to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Maureen is a mother of a son and a daughter ages 24 and 22 with autism. She has managed an at-home Intensive Behavioral Intervention Program for eight years for her children. She has written hundreds of articles and book reviews that have appeared in publications and on websites throughout North America and the UK. Maureen also gives presentations both live and online across Canada on various topics about autism, available books and resources and how to use them.
Autism x 2 : What Happens When Your Second Child Is Diagnosed
Raising more than one child with autism in a family is a unique experience and not without its challenges. Those of us that parent two or more children on the spectrum are not as small in number as you might think. When I tell people I have a son and a daughter with autism, they ask questions like, “Is is common to have more than one child with autism? Is it harder than having one? How do you cope? I’ve never heard of a boy and a girl in the same family – does that happen often?”
While I don’t have exact statistics on multiples with autism in a family, I can tell you I am meeting more families in this situation all the time. We are not as rare as you might think. I have no neurotypical children so have no idea what it’s like to parent normally developing children. I am in awe when I get together with friends and see how their children interact with each other. My stories about the weekend don’t sound like anyone else’s I know. Parenting two children on the spectrum is relentless – one is always off the rails. It’s hard to keep things on an even keel, yet there are some great rewards.
Tantrum vs Autistic Meltdown: What Is The Difference?
Many parents and caregivers have witnessed the fireworks of anger and emotion from a person with autism, and for many people they look exactly like the tantrums that children have when they are young. While they may look similar in external behaviour, it’s important to understand the difference between the two because tantrums need one kind of response, but that same response will only make things worse for a person have an autistic meltdown from being overwhelmed by sensory stimuli.
The Trials of Toilet Training An Older Autistic Child
There is almost no literature available on training the older child with autism. Traditional children’s books all use the potty chair to teach toilet training. Animated characters on videos do not explain the elimination process or show exactly what to do. It took us nine years to get my son Marc using the toilet on his own, and here is how we did it.
Adults With Autism: Lack Of Resources and Misdiagnosis
Many of us fear what will happen to our children with autism as we both age, particularly those of us with children who will require life-long care. Aging in autism however, is a much understudied phenomenon. While there are many resources available to help parents of young children with autism, very little is discussed or available for those over forty. So…
Six Ways To Help Your Child or Teen With Anxiety
Anxiety is a natural and essential part of daily human existence. We all live with worries and stress from time to time, but when anxiety begins to interfere with a young person’s life – when they can no longer face school, or have problems interacting with friends, or performing simple tasks – what can we as parents and caregivers do to…
Finding Work For Autistic People: Self Employment Success
Many autistic adults have difficulty being accepted in, and carving a niche in the working world. While they may have troubles communicating verbally, they might still be able to, and want to contribute in a meaningful way through work. Most provinces in Canada have programs available to help autistic people find work, and there is a growing number of provincial…
What Life Skills Do Our Autistic Kids Need to Succeed?
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine where our kids will be several years from now. What will their life look like once they leave home? What skills will they need to be successful as an adult? What is a meaningful life for this adult with ASD?
These questions swirl around in my mind all the time. My children aren’t many years away from accessing adult services. I often think of the skills they will need to be successful. Those skills will vary for each child depending on their functioning level.
Early Detection And Intervention Can Help Children With Autism Communicate
Ido Kedar is a young man on the spectrum who has an excellent blog called Ido in Autismland. In his own words, he says: “I am an autistic guy with a message. I spent the first half of my life completely trapped in silence. The second – on becoming a free soul. I had to fight to get an education.…
Repetitive Training Not Helping Children With Autism
I’ve written about the difficulties I have had getting my own children to recognize and use washrooms that are not the ones from our home. It can be a real challenge for a child with autism because there is a tendency to represent, understand, and remember things in an extremely specific way. This tendency towards specific or inflexible learning is…
How do I teach a person with ASD how to cook?
Answer: A few years ago, I attended an excellent seminar with Penny Gill, President of the Autism/PDD Family Alliance in Southern Ontario. Her presentation, Overcoming the Challenges: Teaching Someone with Autism Spectrum Disorder to Cook Really Well, showed us that you can teach someone with an ASD the important life skill of cooking provided the challenges are understood and the…
How Do You Know When A Child With Autism Is Feeling Pain?
Historically children with developmental disabilities were excluded from pain research, but this past month a new (as yet unpublished) study showed conclusively that people with autism exhibit abnormal brain responses when a painfully hot object is placed against their skin. The brain’s response to pain has three phases – early, intermediate and late. In an experiment with 17 people with autism and 16 people without, a small piece of metal was taped to the skin and heated to the point of causing discomfort/pain but not injury. The people without autism were still responding to the pain ten seconds after it stopped, but the people with autism had no brain response after the ten seconds.
Feeding Challenges and Food Aversions: Helpful Hints for Parents of Autistic Children
Feeding a child on the autism spectrum can be a great challenge for parents. Creating healthy meals, eating a variety of foods, eating too little or too much food, focusing on only one texture or food presentation, and gut/digestive issues are just some of the worries parents have when feeding their children. Here are a few helpful hints that I have learned as a mother of two children with autism who are both on specialized diets and struggle with eating.
Are Current Self-Advocacy Skills Only For The Middle Class?
I am an avid reader of Judy Endow’s blog because she highlights issues that many of us are not even aware of. Her recent post about the differences in self-advocacy if you are poor or middle income was eye-opening.
Judy has been both poor and middle income as an autistic adult and has observed that “self-advocacy is typically geared toward middle-income status. This could be problematic since many autistic adults live in poverty.”
How to Get The Most Out Of IEP, IPP, or 504 Meetings For Your Child
If you have a child in school with autism or other special needs, chances are you are already navigating either an IEP, an IPP, or a 504 plan. These plans can seem overwhelming to parents, so I have prepared an explanation of what to expect during the meetings and how to get the most out of these plans for your children with ASD in school.