Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

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Autism: What you need to know, from autistic people, professionals, and parents. Pro-neurodiversity. Find us here, on Twitter, FB, and Instagram.

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Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

"To me, Infodumping is a[n autistic] love language; not only professing the love I have for a certain topic, I am also risking the rejection that comes with hearing somebody that I admire tell me that my favourite thing is meaningless to them." By @GenkiGanbarre: autisticrights.net/2020/07/16/i...

Infodumping: Autistic Love Languageautisticrights.net Is there something that makes you feel passionate? Autistically passionate? Something you could read about or do every day, consuming as much information about it as you can? Experimenting with it as ...

SF peeps: July 27 is SFMOMA's first Disability Portrait Day! "Come with your friends, family, and service animals and sign up for a sitting with disabled photographer Mia Charnelle." Details below, masks required (which we know is not possible for everyone). www.sfmoma.org/event/disabi...

Disability Portrait Daywww.sfmoma.org

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Things non-autistics say to autistics: "You are not autistic "You have autism "Don’t let it define you "You are more than just autism "I thought you grow out of that? "But that’s a kid’s thing" By Emma Dalmayne at TPGA: thinkingautismguide.com/2021/04/they...

They Say to Autisticsthinkingautismguide.com They say to autistics: Make eye contact. Look at me. How am I meant to know you can hear me if you don't look at me? …Not like that!

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Reminding you about one of our favorite recent autism research papers: Autistic adults often prefer to eat alone not because they are being awkward or antisocial, but because they prefer to have their meals in a more "peaceful space." www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1... #neurodiversity

Preference to Eat Alone: Autistic Adults' Desire for Freedom of Choice for a Peaceful Space | Autism in Adulthoodwww.liebertpub.com Backgrounds: Autistic adults tend to prefer eating alone, which may result in further social isolation. This study aims to understand contexts of challenges autistic adults face when eating with other...

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Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

Hey there SLPs, OTs, & PTs: How are you incorporating sensory strategies with your autistic clients? Because "Sensory processing supports are REALLY important to Autistic people to support joyful, easeful participation in daily life." www.facebook.com/megproctorOT...

Learn Play Thrivewww.facebook.com Here are 3 things that are true: ⭐ I used to totally avoid sensory processing in my therapy sessions because I just didn't know what to do, and I was afraid of all of the pseudoscience out there. ⭐....

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Being an "inclusionista" means knowing that my autistic son needs me to push both for & beyond ADA accessibility in his life. It does NOT mean forcing him to be in places he doesn't like, or that will make him miserable, overwhelmed, or dysregulated. At TPGA: thinkingautismguide.com/2021/01/note...

Notes From Your Friendly Neighborhood Inclusionista — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISMthinkingautismguide.com Being an "inclusionista" means knowing that just because something is deemed "accessible" by ADA standards doesn't meant it actually is.

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It is HARD to find vacation spaces for some of our autistic loved ones, so our co-editor @autisticenough.bsky.social and her spouse created Spectrum House: An autism-friendly family vacation home that includes sensory, space, & safety accommodation features. thinkingautismguide.com/2024/06/spec...

Spectrum House: An Autism-Ready Family Destination — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISMthinkingautismguide.com Spectrum House is an autism-friendly family vacation home that includes sensory, space, and safety accommodation features.

"A good home doesn’t have to look a certain way. No one will die if the furniture is covered in teeth marks. The happiest households I know are the ones that have made peace with these kinds of changes. Stop fighting the inevitable, & learn to be different." thinkingautismguide.com/2020/06/when...

When Autistic Kids Destroy Things: Insights and Advice — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISMthinkingautismguide.com If parents can try to figure out why autistic children have the urges to break things, and then accommodate them as much as they can, everyone can have a much easier time. Not always, but in many case...

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Registration is open for the Stanford Neurodiversity Summit: Putting Strength-Based Approaches in Action, to be held on September 22-24, 2024. This year the summit will be hybrid, with online and IRL sessions in Palo Alto, California. Details: med.stanford.edu/neurodiversi...

Stanford Neurodiversity Summit 2024med.stanford.edu

But how do you find a good Occupational Therapist, one who really gets our autistic kids and autistic development and peeps in general? The Occuplaytional Therapist, who is a good OT, has some advice. With image description. www.facebook.com/occuplaytion...

The Occuplaytional Therapistwww.facebook.com “I love your page, how do I find an OT like you?” I hear this question every once in awhile — sometimes from people who don’t know how to begin to access occupational therapy services, and sometimes....

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THIS. Biggest thing I remember about childhood was that I was always afraid/nervous. Always. It was constant. Worse when I was around people, even people I knew/liked. There was always fear. Of not understanding, not being understood, doing something “wrong”, not being able to communicate. Always.

Please, please, please learn how to have your autistic child's back. We can help. Thank you, Beth Greene Perera. Original tweet: twitter.com/Old_Snowflak...

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Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

Please, please, please learn how to have your autistic child's back. We can help. Thank you, Beth Greene Perera. Original tweet: twitter.com/Old_Snowflak...

"Don’t rely on my body language or other typical cues for feedback about whether I understand what you’re saying. Unless you’re also autistic or know me very well, you probably can’t read my body language any better than I can read yours." -Cynthia Kim, at TPGA. tinyurl.com/NotALittleSlow

(Not) a Little Slow — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISMtinyurl.com Literally speaking, I guess I am slow. I often need more time than the average person to understand or respond to someone.

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Grateful to The Autistic Self Advocacy Network for continuing to fill in crucial resource gaps, now with their Easy Read guide to Barriers to Gender-Affirming Health Care. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities deserve all the information! autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/u...

autisticadvocacy.org

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"When we trust progressive media outlets as both intellectually rigorous and socially just, their ableism goes unchecked—and so can be far more dangerous than that of their unapologetically prejudiced counterparts." At TPGA. thinkingautismguide.com/2024/06/how-...

How The Progressive Media Sells Out Autistic People — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISMthinkingautismguide.com When we trust progressive media outlets as both intellectually rigorous and socially just, their ableism goes (dangerously) unchecked.

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"Often we’re [autistics] the people who need to escape into other worlds the most, but unfortunately we don’t always get the opportunity to escape into worlds with characters that make us feel seen." Anna Zoe Quirke on their new YA novel Something To Be Proud Of. culturefly.co.uk/anna-zoe-qui...

Anna Zoe Quirke on the importance of authentic autism representation in books - Cultureflyculturefly.co.uk When I was growing up, there wasn’t really any accurate autism representation out there in books, films or on TV. All we had were characters like Sheldon Cooper, Sherlock, The Curious Incident of the ...

July is Disability Pride Month, which honors "the contributions made by disabled people to our society and pushes back on the ableist notion that being disabled is inherently negative." By Quispe Lopez: www.them.us/story/what-i...

Disability Pride Month Is More Important Now Than Everwww.them.us Here are some ways to a better ally to disabled people this July and beyond.

Fact check: There’s a myth that “80% of parents of autistic kids divorce,” but it’s not true. The divorce rate is pretty much the same when parents inside and outside our community are compared. (CN: Article contains deficit-based language.) www.kennedykrieger.org/stories/inte...

Under a Looking Glass: What's The Truth About Autism and Marriage?www.kennedykrieger.org The researchers, from Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University, found no evidence of an 80 percent divorce rate. In fact, parents of children with autism split up as often as parents of ...

If you can, please help TPGA contributor @cosmickarmic.bsky.social & his "normal suburban family with 3 autistic kids and 2 autistic parents" stay housed and fed, and retain vital services for their disabled kids. They "are grateful for anything you can provide." www.gofundme.com/f/help-chris...

Help Chris Williams and family stay in their home, organized by Michael Williamswww.gofundme.com We are struggling to stay in our home and we need support. My n… Michael Williams needs your support for Help Chris Williams and family stay in their home

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Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

Stop putting autistic kids in excessive therapy hours. Research indicates that more/more intense therapies are not better, and that "practitioners recommending interventions should consider what amounts would be developmentally appropriate." Our kids need down time! jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Intervention Amount and Outcomes for Young Autistic Childrenjamanetwork.com This meta-analysis investigates if the amount of intervention provided to young autistic children is associated with improved child development.

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Now in French! Lire cet article en français: autisme.social/art/35

Why we question therapies like ABA as "evidence-based": "It’s hard not to notice that a very large portion of early autism intervention research is conducted by the same people who designed the interventions." A conversation with @kbottemabeutel.bsky.social: thinkingautismguide.com/2020/05/conf...

Conflicts of Interest in Early Autism Intervention Researchthinkingautismguide.com A very large portion of early autism intervention research is… conducted by the same people who design or provide the interventions.

Traduction de l'interview de Kristen Bottema-Beutel donnée au site Thinking Person's Guide To Autism (mai 2020) | Autisme et Sociétéautisme.social

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CN: Suicide Autistic people are at elevated risk of self-harm and suicide. Safety plans can help: They are prepared by a person at risk of self-harm or suicide before a crisis, and describe a series of steps they can follow to help keep themselves safe in a crisis. sites.google.com/view/mentalh...

Mental Health in Autism - Safety Plansites.google.com Why did we develop autism adapted safety plans? Research shows that autistic people are more at risk of self-harm and suicide than non-autistic people. However, there are no suicide prevention interve...

A reminder: “For autistic people and other people with sensory sensitivities to light and sound, as well as people with other conditions such as PTSD, fireworks are not fun, they can be sensory hell and triggering.” Some coping suggestions: intheloopaboutneurodiversity.wordpress.com/2019/07/03/h...

How to Make Fireworks More Enjoyable for Autistic Peopleintheloopaboutneurodiversity.wordpress.com Image description: A sign I made when I was seven years old with the text, "No fireworks, please!" In the United States, Independence Day (July 4th) is coming up. But not everyone enjoys the loudness ...

As parents, we need to be really careful to distinguish between “this thing is making my kid be the person I want them to be but they aren’t,” and “this thing is making my kid happy and making it easier to do things that are hard for them.” Let your autistic kids have fun, people!

As I have become increasingly devoted to "learn from my mistakes, so you don't repeat my mistakes," here are five bonks I made during the early years of parenting my autistic son, and how you can avoid repeating my fails. thinkingautismguide.com/2017/04/hey-... #autism #parenting

Hey Parents of Autistic Kids: Here Are Five Big, Avoidable Mistakes — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISMthinkingautismguide.com I am all about helping parents learn from my mistakes, so they don't repeat my mistakes in parenting my autistic son.

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What problems are there with how behavior support services happen now? What changes could make behavior support services better? How can people with I/DD prepare for times when we might not be able to control our behavior? Please read/share ASAN's new report: autisticadvocacy.org/2024/05/beyo...

On working with AAC users: "Please, please, whatever you do, please never say “I don’t think they meant it” in front of a student. I wish you wouldn’t even think it, but please don’t say it. Always respond as if your student meant it." Miss A, at TPGA: thinkingautismguide.com/2019/10/ok-s...

OK, So We have AAC: Now What? — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISMthinkingautismguide.com Think of your goal less about “doing it right” & more about “getting comfortable with AAC.” Don't let fear of being "wrong" get in the way!

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What do neurodivergent students themselves want from peer supports? The University of Edinburgh's NEST project worked with these same students to co-design the NEurodivergent peer Support Toolkit (NEST) to use in schools. salvesen-research.ed.ac.uk/research/nes...

NEST (NEurodivergent peer Support Toolkit)salvesen-research.ed.ac.uk NEST (NEurodivergent peer Support Toolkit) is a suite of materials to facilitate peer support for neurodivergent young people in mainstream secondary schools. The toolkit has been co-created by resear...

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Autistic and asshole are different conditions, and some people have both 🤷🏼‍♂️

When Elon Musk announced to the world that he’s autistic on Saturday Night Live, some people claimed that this represents a noticeable step forward for autistic people in public life. But @sarahkapit.bsky.social is not celebrating. Read why, at TPGA: thinkingautismguide.com/2021/05/why-...

Why Elon Musk Being Autistic Isn't That Great For Autistic People — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISMthinkingautismguide.com My message to Elon Musk is this: If you want to be enthusiastically welcomed into the autistic community, act like a member of our community.

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I know it’s not cool or hip or whatever to like Hannah Gadsby anymore, but the most seen I have ever felt by my mom was watching the bit in Douglas about whether you can eat the box. That was 3000% me when I was a kid and we were both just delighted.

"If you’re not autistic yourself, you need to do the work to understand how radical, brave and important Hannah Gadsby's Netflix show Douglas is for autistic people." @soniaboue.bsky.social, at TPGA: thinkingautismguide.com/2021/02/hann... #neurodiversity

Hannah Gadsby, Douglas and Autistic Representationthinkingautismguide.com The importance of Hannah Gadsby and her work for autistic people in witnessing embodied representation, at a global level, is immeasurable.