Archive for May, 2008
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Music and Autism
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Yahoo News is carrying a story today about Oliver Sacks, who will be appearing at the Harlem Abyssinian Church during the World Science Festival. Sacks has a new book out called Musicophilia: Music and the Brain, and in it he explores how people with certain neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and autism positively respond to music.
This […]
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Pressure and Self-Esteem
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My son has been increasingly down on himself. Whenever he is corrected for something or questioned about his behavior he’s been responding with comments like, “I’m a loser,” or “I stink.” The phrases are things he adopts from TV or sometimes even from my own negative self talk (which I wasn’t even aware he was […]
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Not a Case of Kids Being Kids
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The story of Alex Barton, the five-year-old boy with (presumed) Asperger’s Syndrome who was humiliated by his teacher and classmates when she had the students vote on whether he should remain in class, has circulated all across the blogosphere for days now. I blogged about it myself. A family member approached me today about the […]
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The State Makes A Bad Parent
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Yesterday I read about the ongoing case of Nate Tseglin at Kristina Chew’s blog (Autismvox). Nate is a seventeen-year-old boy with Aspergers Syndrome who was forcibly removed from his home essentially because his parents would not treat him with drugs the way his school and the state deemed appropriate. He ended up in a mental […]
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A Glimpse of Compromised Motor Skills
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Every now and again I feel as if I’m getting a glimpse into some of Gus’s challenges. Today it seems that I am experiencing some trouble with motor skills.
I somehow managed to either tear or pinch something in my right shoulder which has left me virtually unable to use my right arm or hand without […]
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The Tooth Fairy and Sensory Integration
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Gus finally lost the front tooth that had been hanging on for weeks, but he was very concerned that the tooth fairy’s dust would make too much noise and disturb his sleep. So there was a long discussion of where the tooth would be placed in order to get his ‘reward.’ We finally agreed to […]
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Of Siblings and Destructive Tendencies
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He doesn’t mean to do it. He feels badly when he does. It seems that, more often than not, whatever Gus touches gets broken. We don’t want to get angry because we know it’s always an accident, but it gets hard when the items start to become pricey or when they are treasured. Last year […]
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Gus on Strattera
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We tried my son, Gus, on medication for the first time - Strattera - to try to calm some of his impulsivity and lack of focus. In addition to his Aspergers symptoms, he’s also borderline for ADHD. His school counselor recommended it, so after a couple of visits to his doctor, we gave […]
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Answering Questions
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A couple of friends from my private blog community asked me some questions about autism that I thought I’d answer here:
L. asked how I de-stress from the really stressful days with Gus.
The stress is not as bad as it was when he first got diagnosed at 2 1/2. But the period between 18 months […]
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When the Family Doesn’t Understand Autism
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Raising children is hard when family members have a differing perspective about how you should raise your children. This becomes triply hard with an autistic child. When the family doesn’t ‘get it,’ it is a very sad thing.
My son was having a hard time this weekend, too much excitement going on around his sister’s dance […]
