What can you tell me about Autism?

guys Robyn and Jamie from the Ouch podcast have their own show! it's called 1800 Seconds on Autism and i might have had something to do with it :)

calz et al i would love to know your thoughts.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/1800-seconds-on-autism/id1444057570?mt=2

non-iTunes link here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06sdq0x/episodes/downloads

I listened to a bit before the football started, Tracer. Very charming duo and so very highly intelligent and talking about jazz theory stuff I don't even understand after listening to it for decades! Good stuff though, and I do like them a lot.

yeah they are really good presenters full stop.

and I'm really glad you like it! i genuinely don't think there's anything else out there like it

Alex managed to have an MRI scan today. He needed general anaesthetic obv and I was quite concerned how this was going to happen, given that even flu jabs are an absolute nightmare. They give him a pre-med drink that he downed in one but then fought quite hard against, but eventually succumbed to. Then he woke up between the children's ward and MRI but he was still groggy and not strong enough to fight off the gas mask. It was all very autism aware and excellent work tbh. He was having a loud meltdown when we arrived and was quickly given a room to help him chill. There were a few bumps along the way, but it was at least a hundred times smoother than I was expecting it to be.

it's good when people actually know what they're doing, yay!

If I ever get massively rich I'm gonna start a scholarship program for dentists to specialize in working with people with autism and dementia. And will fund practices specifically designed for that.

I get the joke, it's funny, but I feel that the fact that the ambiguous 'messaging' bugs me is kind of an autistic thing. Or maybe it's just not a well thought out 'memme.

I mean, it literally appears to equate the claims of climate scientists with the arbitrary, coercive demands of greedy, sociopathic comedy mobsters, but vague 'context' is supposed to tell us that's not the intent.

Grim pic.twitter.com/xZ14XZh8AD

— Ireland Simpsons Fans (@iresimpsonsfans) December 29, 2018

You've got the single word "grim" accompanying the post, which on balance is probably more likely to be a comment on the climate rather than on the conduct of climate scientists, although I'm not quite sure why, against the history of those particular characters.

anyone got any good ideas for some classic autism friendly ps4 games? something colourful and fun, 3d world exploring type shit that isn't too demanding? god knows.

"spyro reignited trilogy" might be the sort of thing you're after?

popped this q on the ol group chat and they came back with knack (and its sequel), a platform game, & no man's sky, which is a (more grown up) exploration/survival space game, might be worth a look?

oh no wait apparently they're joking abt knack and its famously bad

I'm thinking Subnautica looks a good sensory/ambient/exploration world type experience, but it might have too much troublesome gameplay for Alex's liking.

A friend's son who is on the spectrum used to be really into Skylanders, the gameplay on that looked pretty straightforward but this kid was a bit younger than Alex, not sure about all the collectable toy nonsense that goes with those games

it's a shame that Stacking is only a ps3 game, i feel like they could be good

my pals also suggest abzu on an aquatic theme, journey and little big planet.

the only interactive stuff he ever got into was cause and effect sensory light/sound box on the ipad. And years ago there was a very simple gameplay-free indie pc game that was a blocky 3d island to explore, can't remember the name of that one but if someone did something similar with the ps4's capabilities it would be autism gaming gold.

abzu deffo looks the ticket.

thanks for some of the reccs folks.

do you know about Flower and Journey calz??

oh yes Flower looks perfect as well. I could imagine getting into myself tbh.

it's pretty amazing!

got Journey/Flower/Flow in one bumper package for £20. I was quite addicted to Eufloria on ios at one point, and flower looks like a 3d variant of it with very beautiful graphics.

false appendicitis scare fun today that led to much panic and an ambulance to pinderfields, only to find he has a very sore throat! his pain management isn't great, and its hard to get to the bottom of medical problems at the best of times - he was screaming for an hour this morning so we thought the worst.

this week I've had the dog nearly die from ingesting a sock, one ambulance trip yesterday with alex's appendicitis false alarm and another ambulance trip this morn cos of his first epileptic fit in 6 years. I'm at war with some wannabe gangsta parents who think their kids can shout "you're fucking disabled" at alex. I've got my fuckwitted neighbour harassing me to put up a floodlight at the front of his house (which I stupidly agreed to do gratis when pissed up). Seriously would accept an invitation for a good old smack gouch rn!

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v41/n06/michele-pridmore-brown/unfeeling-malice

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/whistle-blower-withdraws-offer-to-help-police-reopen-probe-into-autistic-abuse-scandal/

bad NAS joke but It Ain't Hard To Tell what the shady bastards have been up to here.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/columnists/incarcerating-disabled-people-panorama/

I don't think i'll be able to watch this ep of panorama tonight. utterly sickmaking.

I totally verbally lost my temper with some little horrible thug who was pointing and laughing and completely adding to Alex's distress while he was having bit of a mini-meltdown/sensory overload because of the loud shit music they were blaring out, while he was entering the local swimming baths last night. But thankfully the nearest life-guard wasn't a complete dick and had the music turned off and read the riot act to the little shit rather than what i was expecting to happen. So not all bad on the autism awareness front, but there are still way too many arseholes out there.

I hope you said something to this antagonist that really lodged in his gut & costs him personal comfort for months if not years.

I’m so sorry, calzino

As usual in the heat of the situation, I always think of the most sensible retorts afterwards and am feeling like I didn't deal with my temper very well, but I did mention something about disablism before I sternly told him to stfu. need to get better at this tbh!

that was a good outcome anyway calz hope ye enjoyed the pool afterwards

often to people with autism the pool is number one in terms of meeting their sensory needs, self regulation etc next to vestibular activities, so a good time is almost always guaranteed :)

but I suppose being in water is the ultimate vestibular activity tbf!

Boiler engineers, invadin' my space, puttin' test gear and oily rags on food preparation surfaces. Thankfully not too much small talk. Not one of my fave things but preferable to carbon monoxide poisoning I suppose.

I'd be sorely tempted to take the carbon monoxide poisoning over some Charlie Mullins bantz for real!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bus-drivers-hit-christmas-jumper-21002895

this has really pissed me off and sums up how badly trained and ignorant about ASC children the drivers and escorts for special needs transport often are. When many parents of kids with autism won't put up seasonal decorations because routine and low stimulation environments can be crucial for autistic children to be able to self-regulate and stay happy. This fucking idiot goes running to a tabloid because his boss tells him not to decorate himself and the van.. got so much contempt for this thick cunt. Heard so many stories about similar idiots over the years. One dickhead driver kept causing a kid to have a meltdown by putting the radio on too loud, should never even happen once.

A while ago, someone in my social orbit (with an autism spectrum child) posted something about how special-needs parenting resets your expectations of accomplishments.

Other parents are like "my child won a soccer trophy" or "my child is on the honor roll" or "my child plays Mozart flawlessly" or "my child got into Harvard." Special needs parents have things that are more like "my child put on socks" or "my child ate a new food" or "my child said the word 'cat'."

For me, this is one of the most difficult things to express. Something like "we got through the grocery store without screaming" or "we went to a restaurant and didn't need to leave early" is an achievement. For many/most people, it's just something you do. And if you can't, there's something wrong with you as a parent. If you'd raised them right you wouldn't have a problem. If you'd done your job correctly the kid would've behaved.

Sorry for the bathos; we just got back from frickin Olive Garden. Felt like triumph. It has tablecloths and silverware! Wouldn't have attempted it a year ago.

And of course this wasn't at all what I envisioned. At my son's age I suppose I was at least expected to politely try sushi or going to the philharmonic or learning ballroom dance or whatever. We're still working on potty training.

Sometimes just the smallest steps forwards can feel like they've a huge breakthrough. Like I can recall him learning to ride a bike at 13, or learning to stop next to roads and wait to cross at 11.. some of these things might seem small to parents of neurotypical kids .. but they are major progressions. My lad is 17 turning 18 next month and the last few years have been the toughest.

The problem I have now is his recent weight gain. Because when his behaviour was at its most challenging and he was being violent and self-harming, as a bad coping mechanism I tended to let him have milkshakes and snacks when he requested them as they seemed to be a part of his way of self-regulating and remaining on an even keel. He's much calmer now but putting him on a stricter diet and banning some of the high sugar drinks he's become accustomed to have resulted in some quite angry rages at times. I took him for a glucose/urine test for type 2 diabetes last week and they haven't been back in touch with me which hopefully means he hasn't got it. But that is how worried I've become about his weight.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EQxOCMXXYAA5EVp?format=jpg&name=medium

Alex turned 18 last week and is looking good, no signs of glucose/type 2 diabetes in his urine and I've been doing increasingly long as fuck walks with him to help keep his weight down.

hooray for walking. it is the elixir of life.

you ain't wrong

good stuff <3

because he favours low stimulation environments he often prefers going out at night, but i love the night!

Good to hear, calz

Good gents, would walk with

https://www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/autism/

kinda long and technical but good stuff and feeds into my other concerns/interests about pedagogy and parenting in general