Unsolicited advice comes from many directions, including from other autistics. “You just need to be more patient.” “You probably don’t understand your daughters’ Neurodiversity.” “You might not know the difference between a tantrum and a meltdown.” Our many failings as parents have been documented and relayed to us by teachers,…
Tag: sensory overload
Classroom spaces, physical and virtual, present numerous barriers to academic achievement for disabled students. Compound these spaces with ableist teaching practices and it is little wonder schooling traumatizes many students. “Today’s classrooms better meet the social and academic needs of students,” I’ve heard experts proclaim. Really? Which students? Surely not…
Podcast Episode 0071, Season 5, Episode 2; 28 September 2021 Parenting and Food Challenges A follower wrote: Do your children eat anything other than chicken nuggets? My autistic child won’t eat fruits, vegetables, or most meats. It’s cereal, chips, and nuggets. Susan and I are fortunate. The girls and I eat mostly healthy foods. Fruits,…
Sock seams, shirt tags, tight watch bands, and high collars. These are a few of autistics least favorite things. The tag-less t-shirt wasn’t a new invention, since tags were added long after shirts were first made or sold, but I’m so glad they are the norm today. I cannot recall…
“The world isn’t designed for the neurodiverse,” is a claim I read over and over on social media. “It’s made for neurotypicals.” Another variation uses “autistics” and “allistics” instead of neurodiverse and neurotypical, but not every non-autistic (allistic) is neurotypical, so I’m not sure that works as well at conveying…
Podcast Episode 0056; Season 04, Episode 20; February 16, 2021 They Begged… So This is Their Episode Daddy tends to be a pushover when the girls ask to learn. This time, they wanted to learn how the podcasting gear works. So, we set up the Zoom R16, three microphones, and off we went.…
Our daughters, now known as “Leigh” and “Anne” on The Autistic Me, are Neurodiverse. They share some traits, share traits with me, and also have their individual needs. Their adoption was finalized in May 2019, or as they say, “We adopted you, Daddy!” The girls are everything to me. We…
Podcast Episode 0034; Season 03, Episode 06; November 25, 2019 The holiday season includes a lot of sensory inputs, social interactions, traveling, and more. In this episode, I offer a few tips based on our experiences as a family. Our daughters should have great memories of the holidays. To ensure…
LAX was a particularly difficult place to be during our return from a California trip. We had to spend six hours in LAX, waiting for a flight to San Francisco on our way back to Pittsburgh. Yes, we went Fresno, to Los Angeles, to San Francisco, to Pittsburgh after our…
Podcast 0012; Season 01, Episode 12; June 12, 2018 During the summer months, I need to ease off some of my workload to better manage time with family. After this podcast was recorded, I found that I did need to take a break from our littlest one’s pre-K graduation because…