I run a community on Facebook where autistic adults and parents of autistic children come together. The focus of the community is on education — that is, autistics are educating parents of autistic children. But often I see a pattern in posts with questions from parents. They seem to start the same way… “I’m scared […]
First/Then Charts… I’m sure that you’ve seen them… In classrooms and in therapy offices, maybe even at your house. And there’s a lot to unpack with First/Then Charts… Because here’s the thing: They can be extremely helpful or they can also be extremely harmful. See, there is a definite ‘wrong way’ to use First/Then Charts… […]
When your child is diagnosed with autism, there are really two routes you can go. First, the most popular route is the “autism mom™” route. You think autism is a tragedy that steals your child from you, but you are a superhero that has overcome. Thankfully, there’s another option! Instead of donning the puzzle-piece laden […]
Staying calm during your autistic child’s meltdown isn’t an easy task for anyone… But it’s particularly difficult if you are triggered yourself. Whether you’re autistic, you have trauma in your past, you struggle with your mental health or you just can’t stay calm during the chaos, this is the post for you! I’m going to […]
I have a lot of readers who find my blog when their autistic child was diagnosed recently, or even while they’re waiting for their child’s official diagnosis. And oftentimes, their child is non-speaking or really struggles to communicate verbally. The first question I’m asked is often, “when will my autistic child talk?” And I get […]
When you hear about autistic children, hearing about their behavior is never too far behind. Whether it’s someone recommending a behavioral therapy like ABA… or asking about how to discipline an autistic child… or the school creating a written autism behavior plan… It feels like everyone has some sort of plan for managing an autistic […]
