Asperger's
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Summer, Sleep and Sensory Integration
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During the winter, instead of using a single fiber-filled comforter, I’ve learned to layer blankets on my son’s bed. This has the effect of keeping him warm and providing a nice amount of weight to provide soothing sensory input. But in the summer, when it’s too warm for anything, how can that sensory […]
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From Un-Mitigated to Slightly-Mitigated Disaster
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I should have known better. When the note came home that Gus had pushed another student, I should have known that he was having an ‘off’ day. He has never in his life done that (not until the 25 mg of Strattera, but that’s for another day). He was kind of grumpy […]
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Co-Morbidities of Autism and Asperger’s
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John Byrne cartoon
Co-Morbidities - what a scary word! It sounds like some sort of mass death sentence. For the layperson, however, co-morbidities are just multiple conditions that present at the same time.
At the seminar I attended last week, Dr. Ortiz discussed these conditions. He distinguishes between Asperger’s and High Functioning Autism by IQ scores, but […]
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Thursday Thankfulness
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It’s Thursday again, so that means it’s time to find three reasons to be thankful about the unique gifts of autism, Asperger’s or anything else that should come to mind! Here are my three for this week:
1. I am thankful for my son’s special education staff. It’s been a pretty good year and he’s grown so […]
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An Experiment with Music
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On a whim I bought my kids a guitar. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Gus loves music and his sister had been asking for a guitar for ages (usually for my electric antique, and there’s no way she’s getting that one). They have a slew of other instruments, including an electric drum […]
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What Is the Purpose of this Medication?
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Gus has been on Strattera for about a month now, at three different dosages, currently 25 mg per day. The first two levels made him a bit quieter, more subdued, and wore off around dinner time when he would start bouncing off the walls, I guess to make up for lost time. His appetite had decreased […]
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Proprioception and Sensory Integration
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Proprioception is the body’s way of understanding what it’s doing and where it is. It’s how the body knows the arm is indeed raised upward when trying to get the teacher’s attention. Aside from body positioning, it provides feedback about inner workings of the muscles (are they flexed or relaxed, stretching or contracting) and tendons. […]
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Thursday Thankfulness - a few days late
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The past few days have been insane, so I didn’t get to my Thursday Thankfulness. Here it is, and Happy Father’s Day as well!
1. I am thankful that my son is such a good eater with very few sensory issues with food. Especially now that he’s on Strattera, which is suppressing his appetite, it’s great […]
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Fifty-Two Practical Strategies for Asperger’s Syndrome, Non-verbal Learning Disorder and High Functioning Autism
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I spent the day at a fantastic lecture by Dr. John M. Ortiz, Ph.D., founder of the Asperger’s Institute , called: “52 Practical Strategies for Asperger’s Syndrome, Non-verbal Learning Disorder and Autism’. While he didn’t get to all of the strategies, he covered many, and I learned a great deal about Asperger’s that I […]
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Working Toward Inclusion
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kids playing in sprinklers - in swimsuits, not clothes
From the Oxford Compact Dictionary:
Include: verb 1 comprise or contain as part of a whole. 2 make or treat as part of a whole or set.
I give Gus’s school credit for making good attempts at being inclusive. There are two self-contained classes in the school, and they […]
