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I'm a stay-at-home parent to a 2-year-old recently diagnosed with autism. We've been going to speech and OT for the past couple months after COVID lockdowns loosened a step and are starting some early preschool programs that will cover similar things. While he's still non-verbal in terms of explicit spoken language, we've been able to get him to imitate some sounds. (He's got great non-verbal communication, which might actually be hindering him learning to talk since he already has ways of getting his needs met in like 95% of cases due to his body language, gestures, and just grabbing us to directly get what he wants.) My favorite imitation right now is a wolf howl based on a sound he made that I copied/shifted toward the howl. It's super adorable because he grins after each time.  I actually have millions of questions, but am not even sure where to start. So for the moment I'll just say that I'm glad I found this thread because I was tired of finding non-stop Pinterest Moms with YouTube channels that were nominally about their autistic kids, but actually just a way to leverage the kids into views and likes. Barf. whydirt fucked around with this message at 13:30 on Aug 14, 2020 |
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Aug 14, 2020 13:24
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 03:24 |
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Our 2 1/2yo is still 100% non-verbal and it seems like the earliest openings for ABA therapy in the area aren't for another couple months. He would be getting early intervention services from school, but lol COVID means we just get an hour of video call coaching. Also, lol at the autism books for parents suggesting we use our network of friends and family to get relief right now. He is at least using his visual PECS tokens from speech therapy to request certain snacks and toys, so he definitely has the desire to communicate. I just want to hear his little voice. 
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Oct 16, 2020 17:12
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Haha we literally have BCBS federal from my wife’s job at the VA.
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Oct 16, 2020 18:39
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That’s fair. We live between Detroit and Ann Arbor so we luckily have lots of options. Good luck to you and your kid!
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Oct 16, 2020 19:10
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I’ve seen that it is controversial. My understanding is that much of the bad experiences come from negative reinforcement techniques used to stop stimming/repetitive behaviors and that most current ABA instead focuses on positive reinforcement and doesn’t use those older techniques any more. And at least for toddlers it’s more like individualized preschool than anything else. Regardless, I plan on being engaged with his therapy providers and I won’t force our kid to do it if he ends up stressed by it. I don’t want him to try to be “fixed” or “cured” or other nonsense; I love him the way he is. I just want some help getting him to talk and learning some basic skills like teeth brushing, toilet training, etc. whydirt fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Oct 20, 2020 |
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Oct 20, 2020 01:49
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Our 2 1/2-year-old with ASD habitually turns off all the overhead lights at night, even if they're dimmed to lower settings. We can't tell if he has light sensitivity issues or is just doing it as a game since after he does it in giggles and runs around. He doesn't seem to mind our lamps. We don't want to make him uncomfortable, but eating dinner in the dark isn't something I'd prefer to do long-term. Any thoughts? Is there a way to test his light sensitivity or is this something we'll have to muddle through?
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Feb 1, 2021 18:21
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Anyone here familiar with SPARK for Autism? Just had The Algorithm send me an ad for them and wondered if they were cool or not. https://sparkforautism.org
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May 6, 2021 00:59
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Or you’re still tripping to this day and have adjusted to your new reality!
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Jul 7, 2021 20:19
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Can you get a better job that doesn’t discriminate against people with mental health issues? Because that’s lovely regardless of whether you officially have ASD or not.
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Jul 15, 2021 11:32
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Anyone have ideas of cool sensory toys for an autistic 3 1/2 year old that aren’t just the usual textured balls/blocks/etc?
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Nov 26, 2021 21:45
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He *does* love aquariums, but I’d want him to be a little older to reduce the risk of a tipover or other accident with it. The DIY stuff is all stuff we’ve done before with various success, but we’re looking for more working straight out of the box stuff right now. Thanks for the ideas! 
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Nov 27, 2021 14:54
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King Baby posted:Have any of you been or known someone that went from non-verbal to verbal? My son is 7 and has been making some great strides with talking and listening, but I fear the day where he will be too big for me to handle and need to be in a group home. We’ve got a 3 1/2yo who’s just starting to talk and the progress for us has definitely come in spurts followed by lots of plateaus. I feel like it’s really hard to find good support for parents of young ASD kids, especially during the pando. Every place we’ve taken our kiddo for community or therapy support normally would also have programs for parents, but those were all the first things to get axed once lockdowns started. Trying to find good parental support online is a real mixed bag. Parent groups have lots of Autism Mom stereotypes pushing weird supplements/diets and uncomfortable memes. If you have plat, feel free to PM me! I’d love to have someone who’s further down the road we’re on to talk to.
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Jan 2, 2022 13:37
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signalnoise posted:example Well, did they?!?
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Jan 9, 2022 14:13
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Anyone here familiar with PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance/Persistent Drive for Autonomy) as a form/presentation of autism? I stumbled across folks talking about it on autism tiktok and it's resonating a lot with our autistic 4yo really struggling with meltdowns specifically during transitions and regression for potty training. His troubles definitely come across as seeming stressed/anxious over control and not over sensory stimulation from our perspective, which is what PDA seems to be about as a kind of autism. From what I can tell, it's not officially recognized in the US yet, but does seem to be in the UK and Australia.
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May 12, 2022 12:14
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Also she might need more/different supports and accommodations than you did even everything else being equal.
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Jun 2, 2022 22:51
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I think tradition date structures aren’t even good for neurotypical people, so forcing them onto autistic folks was a yikes. Especially the speed dating!
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Jul 13, 2022 23:06
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You realize that coming in here with some anecdotes about how some neurodivergent/disabled strangers on the bus are weird to you isn’t a good look?
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Jul 22, 2022 16:37
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Your score is meaningless. Literally the only criteria for autism is questioning the questions. 
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Aug 12, 2022 13:38
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We’re the opposite situation. Our 4yo PDA kid does all the steps of potty time perfectly if you can get him to start the process, but refuses to go if you suggest it, won’t initiate on his own, and will instead just have an accident. So we’re back on pull-ups 100% of the time at least until his pre-school starts since for some reason he would let his class aid take him there last school year. At least sleep is also going terribly 
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Aug 23, 2022 02:10
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Our autistic 4yo is hyperlexic and has special interests in letters, numbers, shapes, and Japanese characters so his handwriting is better than mine.  His preschool teacher last year said his pencil grip is better than hers. 
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Sep 14, 2022 09:18
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FNLN gets his Diagnosis that is
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Jan 20, 2023 20:14
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I can appreciate not naming names or getting too specific to avoid stirring up drama, but your post is too vague to offer meaningful advice
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Feb 21, 2023 00:33
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I dunno where you live, but multiple chains near me offer cheap or even free curbside pickup of gorceries. It’s been huge for our family.
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Mar 1, 2023 11:33
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Both parties are have shared responsibility for communication, but what that looks like is very context dependent. It’s hard to say more about your specific situation without knowing more. That said, getting brain-splained from NT people sucks regardless of the other stuff.
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Mar 31, 2023 22:38
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I’m a hugger but always ask for verbal consent first with new people.
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Apr 3, 2023 01:29
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Nm
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Apr 22, 2023 18:25
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Please be kind to allistic people because they have communication deficits where they can’t always directly explain their actual needs
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May 29, 2023 16:34
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Allistic = Not Autistic It and neurotypical get used as synonyms, but they’re not exactly the same. All neurotypical people are allistic, but not all allistics are neurotypical.
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May 30, 2023 16:23
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The term that I think has been overused is neurospicy
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May 30, 2023 23:56
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I dislike it only when it’s used by as a way to make autism/adhd seem like fun quirks and discount them as disabilities
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May 31, 2023 17:35
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ADHDer with an ASD 5yo here. The toughest parts have been his speech delay and his sleep problems. The first obviously makes it harder to negotiate stressful situations because we have to rely much more on body language, context clues, and intuition to help navigate. And it makes us nervous in terms of it being harder for him to advocate for himself when we’re not there. Bad sleep just magnifies the stress all the other problems. Thankfully he goes to sleep pretty well, but multiple times a week will be awake and need supervision for a couple hours from like 2-4 in the morning. I’m a stay-at-home dad, so I’m the one up with him most of the time since mom’s schedule is less flexible due to work. There are definitely days, especially when he doesn’t have school or therapy, where I’m both over- and under-stimulated from watching him all day and left with nothing in the tank by the time mom is done working. He’s super sweet, very curious, and has a heart-warming laugh. He has hyperlexia and hypercalcula. He’s learned all the Japanese katakana and hiragana from YouTube videos and can essentially count as high as he has time and attention for. When doing a shapes unit at preschool, he named all the shapes in the exercise 100% and then started naming ones his teacher didn’t know like a heptagon. He’s also never intentionally hurt other kids, although he’s sometimes obvious and plows past others to go down a slide. When I take him to an indoor playground he loves, I see other kids his age yelling or hitting each other and am reminded that oh yeah NT kids can be rude as hell.
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Jun 19, 2023 13:08
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I’d also say that emotional attachment is a wide spectrum.
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Jun 22, 2023 16:12
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I suggest making a sibling thread in E/N, let both stay up for a week or so while the new one finds its footing, then use this one to direct folks there before closing it.
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Jul 1, 2023 16:14
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“Aspie test” is a red flag but otherwise the front page seems decent enough
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Jul 3, 2023 01:31
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I view infodumping in a similar category as hugging. It’s intimate enough that you should get an okay before diving in. Some people you meet will want it, others won’t. Either way, it’s polite to ask first, at least with new friends where you haven’t established defaults for how you interaction.
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Jul 5, 2023 18:24
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 03:24 |
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Also almost all the BBT characters are incredibly sexist
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Sep 21, 2023 13:48
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