There is a lot of morose stuff on the internet about teenagers and Aspergers. We wanted to show a happier side with our art, photos and ideas. Our families kinda like our Asperginess. Or they just like us a lot and deal with it. For more about our blog, click here.
06/19/2013
David on Sports and Aspergers
Do you play sports? No
Do you want to play sports? No. Not really.
Have you ever played sports? Well, I played basketball but only for fun and not any where near professionally.
You played basketball? With my friends. In the driveway.
Did you play soccer? Yes. When I was like 4. I remember only a little bit of it.
Did you like soccer? I don't know.
Any other sports? I took karate for 3 years or something.
Did you like it? Well, the dodgeball and games and stuff, yes. But that doesn't really qualify as "karate." I liked my teacher.
Why are you not It feels like to much physical work. Too much is goinging interested in sports? on. There is too much to pay attention to.
Why do some Asperger kids not like sports? (Stare). I do not know how other people feel.
(And then the interviewer remembered she was talking to a teenage boy with Asperger Syndrome about other people's feelings....)
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06/18/2013
Teaching a Child with Aspergers Tip #4: Spread the Knowledge Around
I have always loved field guides. Everything is organized in a logical way.
I like seeing the diversity of all the different species.
I drew this field guide with markers when I was about 10 years old. There are around 75 birds in it.
Recently, I've been using it to teach my little sister Katie how to identify birds. We look at the birds in the yard and I help her identify them, using my book. She gets pretty excited when she sees a new one and gets to check it off.
CHRISTIE's MOM: I've heard it said that you have mastered a subject when you are able to teach it to others.
When someone has enthusiasm for a topic, it can be infectious. Christie has taught me more about the natural world than I ever learned in school (or anywhere else). Before I knew her, I could identify maybe 20 birds. Now it's probably close to 100... and I might be able to throw in a fact or two about each one.
Finding creative ways for your child to teach others about their interests is a great way to further their education, as it requires using those pesky interpersonal and social skills.
Happy teaching!
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06/17/2013
06/16/2013
Christie's Random Rants #1
If the whole purpose of eyelashes is to keep stuff from getting into your eyes,
why is it that 99% of the time something gets in my eye it's a freakin' eyelash??
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06/15/2013
Book Review: Asperger Syndrome in the Family by Lain Holliday Willey
Asperger Syndrome In the Family: Redefining Normal by Laine Holliday Willey
This has been one of the most helpful books about Asperger Syndrome I have read.
First, Lain Holliday Willey has Aspergers herself and is raising a daughter with Aspergers. She has the insight and ability to describe the way certain things feel and affect her that a child sometimes can not.
For example, I always knew that David hated going to Home Depot. I really wasn't sure why. He wasn't sure why. Willey wrote of feeling overwhelmed by the noise, size, quantity of people and smells in a huge warehouse store. I was able to then understand David's averstion to that store and could anticipate a similar reaction to other large places.
Second, I really appreciated the positive light shined on Aspergers. The list of "20 First Rate Ways to Describe Aspies" is excellent. Also, she addresses so many of the issues "Aspie's" deal with in both their negative and positive light. It is easy for me, as a parent, to get bogged down in the list of what we need to catch up with or learn to do differently. This was a great way to step back and see a whole picture of a person with Asperger's.
Her explanation about obsessions that so many Aspies" have is great. Obsessions can be as much of a refuge and as essential as "8 hours of sleep" at night. As with all aspects of Asperger Syndrome, she discusses these obsessions in such a positive (while still realistic) light. It really gave me a lot of vocabulary of my own for when people asked me probing questions about how "obsessed" David is with certain things. Instead of just kinda smiling and shrugging I have a few simple things I say. "Yes, his concentration and persistence are excellent when it comes to drawing comics." or "His high interest in cows (because, let face it David, you used to really love them) is very relaxing to him. Much like someone who is comforted by knitting."
Third, this book was a great resource for the later elementary and early teen years. Parenting a Child with Asperger Syndrome by Brenda Boyd (my review of that book can be found here) helped with strategies for the early primary years. Asperger Syndrome in the Family helped me with simple practices and a broader perspective for the years I find myself enveloped in right now.
As much as the strategies are helpful, there is a feeling of everything is going to be ok. The author has Aspergers. She has a family and is thriving. I need to feel that reassurance as a parent from time to time.
Finally, reading this book felt like reading about more than just my Aspergers child. It felt like reading about our family. It made me realize that Aspergers seems to run in the family. It felt like when you meet new people and say, "You too? So do we!" And feeling an instant connection.
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06/14/2013
Dressing 4 Comfort
When I get dressed in the morning, I put zero thought into it. Do people my age normally think about it? I have no idea, it seems ridiculous.
I don't wear tank tops, and I don't really like shirts with long sleeves. They make my arms itchy. Unless it's super duper soft. And I don't like sweaters.
So basically, all I wear is t-shirts.
My mom usually just brings me home shirts from Old Navy. Sometimes from the mens section. I don't particularly care what they look like, although I prefer ones with animals on them, such as jellyfish and lobsters and toucans.
I saw these awesome shirts with sparkly exotic birds on them at WalMart this week. I went to go look at one, and as I unfolded it, it turned out to be as wide as I am tall. I still wanted it though.
I'm probably pickiest about pants. I hate any pants that aren't sweat pants, particularly jeans. They are extremely painful to wear. When I was little, my mom used to make me wear them.
We used to go to the store and shop for hours trying to find me jeans that I would actually wear. My mom would be all like "Do these hurt?" "Do these hurt?" Do these hurt?" And I would be all like "YES". But she would buy them anyway.
We didn't know about Aspergers back then and I guess she thought I was overreacting.
The waist always felt extremely tight, and would dig into my skin. My mom would make me wear jeans in cold weather saying that they were "warm" and that the crunchiness would go away if I wore them more.
Lies.
And in cold weather, I like to wear weird socks.
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06/13/2013
Parents of Asperger Kids: Keeping It All Organized
David's Mom:
In the early days of diagnosis, getting a new diagnosis, tests, and therapies....things started to get confusing.
David was very small for his age and was starting to show signs of developmental delays. Our pediatrician began testing him for pretty much everything. And sending us to specialists. Each new doctor was another round of paper work and lots of questions. For a period of 6 months, we had a new test or specialist every week.
By the time David was 2, those visits were filled with a cranky toddler and a new born little brother. I was doing good just to keep from leaving a trail of Goldfish crackers in the office and remember my own name. In an effort to keep my sanity, I put together a notebook to help keep track of everything.
I used it to help me have a place to put all of the information coming at me.
I also used it to help answer all of the questions that the new doctor or therapist would ask me. I didn't have to remember what vaccinations he had when. Or when he started on solid food or slept through the night. It was all right there in the notebook.
Types of items in our notebook:
1. A detailed time-line of pregnancy, birth, developmental milestones, tests, etc. This time-line was very helpful to just hand a copy to a doctor and let them scan it. A lot of the specialists in the early years really wanted every detail and this certainly helped. But it also helped me to have a list to refer back to when the doctor asked things like "What was his APGAR score?" When your baby is 6 weeks old, this isn't so hard to remember. When he was 4, it was a faint memory that there even was a test with that name.
2. An updated list and dates of all vaccinations.
3. Evaluations from OT or speech.
4. Evaluations from pre-school teachers. (These were helpful because it was a different environment than the home where I observed him).
5. Hearing tests, allergy test, lab results. (All of these test results at my finger tips helped to avoid different doctors wanting to perform repeat tests.)
6. IEP from the county (in preparation to begin Kindergarten).
7. Services offered from each clinic, doctor's office or from the county.
8.The standard developmental milestones from each doctor appointment.
9. My notes from each doctor appointment.
10. A copy of any prescription he was taking.
11. Drawing samples (when he was little). A little drawing he made when he was 4 led a specialist to point out to us that he was drawing things 3 dimensionally. We did not realize this was unusual for a child his age. Later, we included writing and school work samples.
12. As he got older, I would ask David if there was anything he wanted to include in his notebook to represent himself to his doctor.
The notebook is heavy and not that pretty to look at. But I've carried it around for 15 years. Our process of looking for answers started at 6 months. It wasn't until he was 5 that we heard the words "Asperger Syndrome" when we found our Developmental Pediatrician. I was able to catch up our new doctor quickly and answer all of his background questions because of this notebook.
And do you know how I knew exactly when that happened 10 years later? It is in my notebook.
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06/12/2013
06/11/2013
Comparing Gandalf and Dumbledore
I like diagrams.
And charts.
And lists.
Not so much the paragraphs. Obviously.
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