A favorite talking point of some folks on the internet is that self-diagnosis of autism by Autistic adults isn't valid. On the surface, this seems like a somewhat reasonable position to take. After all, there are professionals who are trained in how to know whether someone is Autistic or not. What could be the harm … Continue reading The Illogic of Expecting Autistic Adults to be #DiagnosedAutistic
Parenting While Autistic
Autistic House Moving Pandemic Style
My highly neurodivergent family is moving. By "my highly neurodivergent family" I mean myself, Counterpart, my girlfriend, and our combined five children. Descriptions of our neurodivergences: All but two of us are Autistic. At least five of us have ADHD and I might have that too. Haven't been evaluated for ADHD, but it seems likely. … Continue reading Autistic House Moving Pandemic Style
Autistic Parenting in Public
I wrote a parenting twitter thread today. The issue of public parenting came up and I have some issues with how our society views small children in public as well as generally, so I tweeted about how I handled the issue of parenting publicly with small (mostly Autistic) children, as an Autistic parent myself. The … Continue reading Autistic Parenting in Public
Broken But Building Back
My words are starting to return a little bit. It's been months. Goodness only knows how long it'll take for them to be back to any kind of "normal" (for me) level. I think I wrote the quoted bit below about being wordless around a week ago. ____________________________ It's funny how wonky time goes. Buried, … Continue reading Broken But Building Back
“Needing Structure” — What Does That Mean?
Re: Autistic people (especially children) and structure -- Based on my own experiences and those of other Autistic people with whom I've conversed about this issue, it's not usually structure or schedules, per se (on their own), that help us the most. Yet predictability can be an important support for us, especially when we're children. … Continue reading “Needing Structure” — What Does That Mean?
Outsourcing Executive Functioning – Family Meetings
I, like many Autistic people, struggle with executive functioning (EF), which makes many aspects of parenting and running a household especially difficult for me. Note: For a general overview of what EF is and how it can impact people's lives, please check out this series of posts from Cynthia Kim. Over the past several months, … Continue reading Outsourcing Executive Functioning – Family Meetings
Some #ActuallyAutistic Advice for #ElmoMum
An #ElmoMum elaboration in three short parts. Part the first: Background Part the second: Context Part the third: Advice (with swearing) [You are here.] 3 - Advice (with swearing) Disclaimer: This is general advice and is far from a complete list. Most of it comes down to treating your child like a fully functioning Autistic … Continue reading Some #ActuallyAutistic Advice for #ElmoMum
More Context on #ElmoMum
An #ElmoMum elaboration in three short parts. The last link should be correct once the third part is posted. Part the first: Background Part the second: Context [You are here] Part the third: Advice (with swearing) (3/18/18) 2 - Context This section originally began as a Facebook post, that you can read here. One of the … Continue reading More Context on #ElmoMum
Some Background Re: #ElmoMum
An #ElmoMum elaboration in three short parts. Links should be accurate as the posts are published. Part the first: Background [You are here] Part the second: Context (3/17/18) Part the third: Advice (with swearing) (3/18/18) 1 - Background One reason I wrote my last post about evaluating books about parenting Autistic children is because, at the … Continue reading Some Background Re: #ElmoMum
Evaluating Autism Parenting Books
Otherwise entitled: "How can a desperate parent tell when a book about parenting an Autistic child will be helpful vs harmful?" (with a short detour to start with) https://twitter.com/mamautistic36/status/972198323770753024 I'm an Autistic parent. I've never found a lack of understanding for parents in general from the Autistic community. Just a lack of understanding for parents … Continue reading Evaluating Autism Parenting Books
Mamautistic 