“Well, of course growth spurts are good things,” you might say, if you don’t know what they look or feel like. I’ll let you in on the number one secret that throws off autistic progress: Growth spurts will produce feelings and behaviors appropriate to the developmental age at which a neurotypical person usually meets the milestone. That means that if you have an autistic preteen making strides in therapy, he can suddenly have what looks like a psychotic episode to the uninitiated, or to the hyper-observant and autistically in the know, a growth spurt that looks exactly like the disregulation that happens in a typically developing two year old. Remember the terrible twos and threes? They have a reputation because the brain connections formed…
writing, autism, & theology as a mother of joy
Posts from the “advice” Category
Autistic Brain Owner’s Manual Lesson 3: The Early Nerve Gets the Attention
Summer Kinard
Posted on May 19, 2018
Our brains starting at the brainstem work from the inside out. There are some types of experience that we process before we even think about them. These include first emotions and then visual input. Language and other higher thought comes later. What this means is that your nervous system (and everyone’s nervous system) feels first, sees second, and thinks third. For autistic people, language processing can sometimes be a challenge. It’s important to know how the brain works so that you can build on what’s already working. Feelings First In every human being, no matter their cognitive level, emotions are functional. Emotions are precognitive. That means they are processed in the spinal cord, the brain stem, and the deep brain before they reach the…
For those of us who ask the help of saints in our daily lives, one of the first questions that comes along with an autism diagnosis/recognition is, “Who is the patron saint of autism?” As far as I know, there are no official patron saints of autism. Yet, I can attest to the help and intervention of several saints in our autistic lives. Here are some of the saints that have made themselves known to us as helpers for autistic Christians. Holy Theotokos. Sometimes it’s easy to read past important parts of scripture, like when the educated people of the time were surprised at how much Jesus knew when he had not studied in the temple or gotten the best education of his day.…
Today is Autism Awareness Day. Many people of faith are wondering how they can welcome, engage, and serve with persons with autism. Here are 7 tips, from my faithful autistic family to yours. Keep the format and ESPECIALLY the social routine for entering the learning time/space consistent and predictable. For instance, my Sunday school class always includes the children leaving their parents at the door, walking all the way across the room to the prayer area, and having the option of placing flowers or a felt candle in the prayer area. That routine eases the anxiety of children on the spectrum, because they don’t have to wonder what to do when they get to class. They have a built-in routine to participate. Another example…
How the Murry Family Taught Me to Parent My Children with Autism The gift of great stories is that they are there when you reach for them, laying a bedrock of trust in an uncertain world. When I first read A Wrinkle in Time, I gaped in disbelief at the kindness, competence, and acceptance displayed by Meg’s mother. Though I thought at the time that she was more fairy tale than role model, Mrs. Murry quietly took up residence in my aspirations. Here was a brilliant woman who was also a dazzling mother, never giving into the temptations to let the children fall prey to their weaknesses or to let them hide or waste their strengths. Parenting was Mrs. Murry’s heart work as much…
Starting any homeschool is a matter of looking up your state’s requirements and setting up your school. But once you have a homeschool registered, how do you teach your autistic child at home? School has different goals for kids with autism than for neurotypical kids. A regular school will seek to inform children with academic skills, with some coping skills added as supplement. An autism school will be first and foremost therapeutic, with academics supplementing an autism-specific curriculum. Neurotypical kids will focus on acquiring a set of academic knowledge. Autistic kids will focus on healing their brains and connecting to the world around them. They will also pick up the academic knowledge they need, but taking care of that special brain and body comes…
Autism is our normal. Though we adapt to help everyone thrive as much as possible, our priority is joy when it comes time to celebrate special seasons. I’m sharing these tips on how we embrace Advent as a family with autism, and you’ll probably appreciate this Advent Guide even if your family is neurotypical. “Wow” Books I’ve been curating a collection of Christmas books since before our firstborn arrived. We bring out the Advent book bins for roughly two months each year from the beginning of Advent (November 15 for New Calendar Orthodox Christians) through the Old Calendar Feast of the Theophany of Our Lord in mid-January (also known as Epiphany). Though we have a few so-so books in our Advent bin, the priorities…
