Enjoying the scenery on your autism detour
If parenting is indeed a journey (as I wrote yesterday), parenting an autistic child is a detour from the path that a parent’s journey normally takes. Several years ago I heard the following (I wish I...
View ArticleIs there autism in heaven?
If there is indeed a heaven, and your autistic child goes there when he dies, will he still be autistic? Over the years I’ve come to believe that asking someone this question about autism in heaven is...
View ArticleNormal people aren’t normal either
Set in the near future (30 years or so), Elizabeth Moon‘s novel The Speed of Dark is the story of Lou Arrendale, an autistic man presented with the possibility of being cured, his contemplation of what...
View ArticleDevote more time to your kid’s strengths than their shortcomings
Consider this opening paragraph from the book Strengths Finder 2.0: At its fundamentally flawed core, the aim of almost any learning program is to help us become who we are not. If you don’t have...
View ArticleDon’t ask me, ask him (about the autism C-word)
A few years ago, a friend asked me the question: “If someone told you there was a pill you could give your son that would cure his autism overnight, would you give it to him?” Sounds like an easy...
View ArticleTake time to listen, and to learn their language
Open and clear communications is one of the most important things between parents and their kids, and a lot of parents spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to do this. Read just about any book...
View ArticleDifferent – and normal – are in the eye of the beholder
What does it mean to be normal? What does it mean to be different? These are big questions in any discussion about autism or other disabilities. The term “disabilities” itself begs this question, since...
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Lead – don’t manage – your (autistic) kids
Autonomy – Mastery – Purpose Aimed at adults who have already heard the starting gun, these are three things that Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers) and Dan Pink (Drive) have written about in terms of...
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Perseveration, or perseverance? Obsession, or passion?
The distinction between “perseverate” and “persevere” is one that I have often wondered about. What I’ve come up with, in a nutshell, is this: perseverate is bad, keeping at something for no real...
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Parenting is a journey, not a destination
Sometimes our kids surprise us. We try and try and try to get them to do something, understand something, say something. They go for a long time, apparently ignoring (avoiding?) all of our best...
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