The Snowball Effect

Posted on July 26, 2013 by | 20 comments

The snowball effect began with, what I now think of as, a leap of faith.  Richard and I leapt into that great abyss better known as the unknown.  It turns out this was actually not true, it would be more accurate to say we chose to neither believe nor disbelieve, but instead began to examine all we were being told.  Perhaps it’s better to say that instead of leaping into we jumped out of.  From there it was more of a hop to begin presuming competence.  However, as a commenter on this blog said, “presuming competence isn’t enough.” And knowing what we now know, I have to agree.  It’s the starting point.  It’s like that initial leaping off point, it’s just the beginning.

At the moment we are experiencing something akin to being in free fall.  It’s the feeling of discovery, limitlessness, surprise, and pure ecstasy that comes with being present without expectation or preconceived ideas about what should or will happen.  Our perspective continues to change as we move along.  Like any great adventure, the path is at times rocky, but the triumphs are exquisite.  As we move deeper into this process it becomes easier and more familiar to be solidly in the discomfort of the unknown.  There is bliss in that.  True bliss.

Last fall I wrote a post about how I was worried Emma was not comprehending a story that had been sent home in her back pack from school.  It was a simple story, perhaps 1st grade level reading with some questions that she seemed unable to answer.  In the post I write how I am trying to find ways to help her reading comprehension.  I talk about presuming competence.  What I am struck by now is not Emma’s level of supposed incomprehension, but by my own.  I reread all the comments just now and am amazed, amazed that though I thought I was presuming competence, I was only able to go so far with my presumptions and, as it turns out, wasn’t going far enough.  I could only presume as much as my limited thinking would allow me.  The idea that she was not only comprehending this story, but was so far beyond it, was not something I was capable of fully understanding, let alone considering.  I was much more stuck, as it turns out, than my daughter was.

Now jump forward to yesterday afternoon, almost nine months after I wrote the post I refer to in the above paragraph.  Emma chose to talk about adjectives.  We watched the BrainPop movie about adjectives and then she took the quiz.  I copied what Rosie had done, asked her to read the questions silently to herself while using a laminated card to direct her visually and then quickly guided her to read each of the four multiple choice answers.  She only hesitated once, on a question about a possessive adjective, but otherwise breezed through the quiz with 90% accuracy.  Not only was Emma reading faster than I was able to, but she was accurately answering the questions faster than I could read them, let alone answer them.

The snowball effect:  “The basic workings of a literal snowball effect can be illustrated by taking one’s average baseball-sized snowball and dropping it down the side of a snowy hill. As it descends it gathers more snow and whatever leaves, sticks, etc. are in its way. The snowball accumulates not only size, but speed.” ~ From the Urban Dictionary

Self Portrait

photo

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Posted in Autism, Parenting, presume competence

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Audio Book “I might be you” Giveaway!

Posted on July 24, 2013 by | 10 comments

Barb Rentenbach, author of the wonderful book I might be you, which if you haven’t read it yet, you must, is giving away the audio version to the first 5 people who click on this link and enter your name.  Ready… set… GO!

For those of you new to this blog or who may have missed the posts or who read them the first time, but can’t remember them any more or those of you who want a refresher course on all things involving Barb (and why wouldn’t you?) I wrote about recording Barb’s book last spring, you can read all about it ‘here,’ ‘here,’ ‘here‘ and ‘here‘.  If you want to hear directly from Barb about the giveaway and why she is doing this, read her post “Introducing: ‘Ask Barb’”

Now I’m going back to bed because I seem to have caught some nasty bronchial cough, runny nose, sneezing, achy, maybe even feverish horror that I mistakenly thought was allergies but that I am now convinced is a distant cousin to whooping-cough.  In other words I’m miserable and unless you want to read an entire post about just how awful I feel, you should go now and pick up that FREE audio book quickly while they last.

No, no, never mind me… *coughing while feebly gesturing you to get on with your day.

Barb Rentenbach & Lois Prislovsky in the recording studio (I was in the ‘cave’ aka recording booth with headphones on)

Barb & Lois

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Posted in audiobook, Autism, Barb Rentenbach, i might be you

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Emma’s Story

Posted on July 23, 2013 by | 51 comments

Emma told me I could post her story on here this morning.  This is a story she wrote yesterday with Rosie (Rosemary Crossley).  Rosie developed a technique more than thirty years ago to help people with a variety of issues, specifically those that make speaking difficult or impossible .  Em held onto a tube with one hand while Rosie held the other end as Emma typed.  Rosie began yesterday’s session by asking Emma to write a story that began with either, “once upon a time” or “one day.”  I was standing near Emma, with Richard, Joe and Em’s teacher, Katie, all watching as she typed the following.

“One day there was a boy called george. He had been in afight can’t tell you how he got into the fight but he was bruised all over.  He fought a lot and his teacher was very angry.  The next day he was all purple and his mother said you can’t go to school looking like that.  The very clever boy covered himself in flower and his teacher thought he was sick and sent him home.  The end.” 

Not sure I can actually continue writing here…  but I’m going to try… *Breathe*

I have read this story more than a dozen times already.  I know I’m totally biased, but I’m just going to say it – what an incredible story!  There are so many layers to it.  This story that Emma wrote with great concentration, with little pause is the first story she’s ever written.  She was focused and when asked about the word “flower” she verbally said “powder” in explanation.  Rosie explained that flower/flour are words that sound alike but are different in meaning.  Rosie explained that the powder kind is spelled “flour.”

But there’s more…  A little later Rosie brought out a math app called Math Magic where Emma proceeded to zip through addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  None of this is particularly noteworthy, except that Emma has never been formerly taught division.  She was choosing the correct answers from a field of four.  A sample equation is:  “56 ÷ 8” and the multiple choices available were: 2, 9, 7, 6.  Emma chose the correct answers independently.    Allow me to say that again.  Division.  Emma chose the answers independently.

It was at this point that I felt so many things all at once it was almost impossible to speak.  But more than anything I kept thinking about how we continue to underestimate our daughter.  I had no idea she could do division.  Not only can she do division, she can do it quickly.  There’s another app Rosie recommended – Brain Pop and Brain Pop Jr. which Emma also did as we watched.  Not only did she listen to the short lesson, but then read all the questions silently, read the multiple choice answers and chose the correct answers.  It seems verbal speech is tricky, particularly when she is expected to answer questions verbally.  When asked to read silently and then identify the correct written statement by pointing to it, Emma did beautifully… about Ellis Island, no less!  The only interaction Rosie provided with both the math and Brain Bop was to use a laminated card that she silently moved across the words as Emma read and she did not allow Emma to point to any answer until she’d finished reading all the choices.

I cannot imagine how awful it must be to be so capable and yet treated as though you were not.  I imagine it must feel like being “bruised all over.” I imagine it must feel like you “fought a lot”.  My wish for my daughter is that she may continue to do all that she is doing, while we provide her with every opportunity to flourish and continue to show the world how very “clever” she is.  The only limitations are the ones we provide.

I am incredibly grateful to all who believe in her, all who have helped and who continue to help us so that we can be better parents to our daughter.  The list continues to grow…

Rosemary Crossley

Rosemary Crossley

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Posted in Autism, facilitated communication, supported typing

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The Teen Behind the Blog

Posted on July 22, 2013 by | 9 comments

There’s a blog called, TeenTyper, written by someone who describes himself as, “an autistic teenage awesome boy.”  He started his blog two years ago when he was 14 years old.  On a recent post he wrote, “the feeling is bold saturated thimbles of strength.”  Em and I had the honor to meet the young man behind the blog while in Syracuse.  As he also lives in the same city as we do, we got together with him and his mom yesterday.   He is non-speaking, but types and so he and Em typed to each other for a little while and then I asked if it would be okay to talk to him about his blog.  He said it would.  I asked him, “Why did you start writing your blog?”

He typed, “i startd because my aggravation abt my spaz speaking.”

This is from his Subway Poem –

“Subway subculture asserting the stroll
I watch and try to look like another old soul…”

Later I asked him, “Is the blog a place where you want to tell people something specific or is it more a general way to communicate your thoughts, or something else?”

He typed, “neurotypical need to be more conscious abt mean stares and hearing my voice will help them understand who I am.”

From Let me say:

“Before you judge let me say
You need to try being me
Before you judge let me say
I feel awful when you overly stare at me
Before you judge let me say…”

We need to be aware of the harm we do to each other with our judgments and implied criticism.  We need to pause and take our time.  We need to give each other the benefit of our kindness, we need to slow down…  we need to talk less and feel more, we need to give one another the gift of acceptance, we need to stop with our projected fears, our desire for sameness, our impatience, our disregard for another’s humanity…  we need to embrace one another.

From Wasted Words:

“Words wasted on nonsense
Still
Define…”

I urge everyone to go over to TeenTyper and give it, and the “badass awesome” teen who writes it, some love and support!

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Posted in Autism, Autistic Blogs, Blogs By Autistics

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On Being Fallible

Posted on July 19, 2013 by | 45 comments

At the conference Em and I just returned from I was confronted by someone who told me I was being disrespectful of my daughter.  She actually went further and said I had spoken “inappropriately” to her.  Furthermore she said these things to me in front of a room filled with people, all of whom could hear her, because she was leading the presentation.  Yup.  It was one of those moments when you really wish the floor would arbitrarily open up and allow you to slide into its blissful dark, abyss.  It was also the final day of the conference and I was feeling pretty fragile and emotional.  My ability to filter was at an all time low, my ability to think logically was pretty much non-existent, and finally, my ability to hear her and reflect on her words without defensiveness was hovering in the red-high-alert-grab-your-oxygen-mask-we’re-going-down-save-yourself range.  It was one of those moments you wish had never happened, but more to the point you wish you’d never said the thing that was being criticized so publicly.  It was a moment of intense shame.  And my first thought was – defend, defend, defend!

But remember, I was in overwhelm before her words had found their target and I didn’t feel strong or able to fight back, nor did I feel I was in a position to fight back, after all not only was she leading the workshop, she was someone I have a massive amount of respect and admiration for.  This is someone I had looked forward to seeing ever since I was told we would be in her workshop.  This was the person I’d read about and anticipated meeting with eager excitement.  Meanwhile there my daughter was, typing out “I’m happy.”  To which she said, “I’m guessing you’re happy when your mom gets called out on her behavior.” Ouch. Ouch.  Ouch.  Let’s just get a knife while we’re at it and see some real blood.

But here’s the thing…  she had a point.  The details aren’t relevant, what is, though, is that if I am speaking to my Autistic child in a way that I wouldn’t speak to my non autistic child, then that’s clearly a problem.  If I am speaking to my Autistic child in a way that I would speak to my non autistic child, (as was the case in this instance) and someone who has spent their life working with children and advocating for them calls me out on what I’ve just said, I need to, at the very least, consider their words and reflect on my own.  I have never claimed to be an ideal parent.  Years of parenting has taught me that sometimes I get it right, often I get it wrong, but hopefully I will always be willing to look honestly at my actions and behavior without defensiveness, but with a desire to learn and be the best parent I can be one day at a time.

So if someone says something that really hurts, when their words pierce, I’m old enough and smart enough to spend some time thinking about my reaction and at least try to see where the other person is coming from.  Sometimes people say things without the necessary information, sometimes people say things that hurt because they are operating from a set of false assumptions, and sometimes hurtful things are hurtful because there is truth to their words.  I’ve spent the last 36 hours trying to figure out which of these was true or if it was a combination of things, but more importantly, I have reflected on whether the sentence I said to my child was the best way I could have spoken to her and if it wasn’t, what would have been.

Even in my state of overwhelm, I was able to whisper to Em right away, “I’m so sorry, Emmy.”  And I was.  But I was also angry with this other person.  I still felt the need to defend.  I still wanted to “save face” in front of this room filled with people.  But instead I went silent and tried not to cry.  Shame.  Shame is brutal and though all of us have probably felt first hand what it feels like, we also probably, inadvertently have shamed others without realizing it or even meaning to.  I know I have.  The above example is a case in point.  Without meaning to – I had shamed my daughter by questioning out loud what she’d just typed.  I get that.  I have enough humility to know that I make tons of mistakes… every day…  but I also know the beat up job that is my default reaction to making a mistake is not a healthy one.  I’m working toward more measured and thoughtful responses.

One of the things I love about Pascal Cheng, the first person to help me begin supporting Emma with her typing was that when I did something that he saw was unhelpful, he would/will say, “May I give you some feedback?”  He then says things like, “Instead of saying, ‘No!’ ask her if that’s the word she meant to type.”  He has taught me to try and give her just the right amount of resistance (to make sure that she doesn’t go to favorite scripts) combined with the emotional support and encouragement she needs to continue typing with me. Pascal models the same respectful interaction with everyone he comes into contact with.  When I grow up I want to be like Pascal.

But in the meantime, I am looking at my words and seeing how important it is for me to be aware and conscious and respectful of my daughter.  Perhaps the better question I must remember to ask myself is not – would I speak to my son this way, but, would I want someone else to speak to me this way?  The beauty of life is that  we can always improve if we want to.  And I desperately want to.  My goal isn’t to be “right” or never to do anything “wrong” or to make someone else “wrong” when they confront me, my goal is to have the willingness to look honestly at my behavior and the things I say and do, face my mistakes and learn from them.  That’s my goal for this short life I have been given.

Me and Em at the ICI Conference
Me & Em

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Posted in Autism, ICI Conference, Parenting

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Transitions

Posted on July 18, 2013 by | 14 comments

We returned home last night from the ICI Conference (Institute on Communication and Inclusion) at Syracuse University and though it was wonderful to see those family members we’d left behind, being “back” is hard.  I don’t do transitions well. As a kid I would eagerly anticipate having a sleepover at a friend’s house weeks in advance, only to return home depressed.  It is still like that.  It often takes several days before the weight of sadness, that accompanies returning from a place where I’ve had a terrific time, is lifted.  Even though all that excitement, fun and the constant interaction with lots of people is exhausting.  Yesterday I was so emotional I knew I was in overwhelm, but we had a whole day of presentations ahead of us, so I ploughed through.

When I reach this point of exhaustion and overwhelm I become emotional.  Anything can set off a torrent of tears.  If someone says something even remotely critical the tears begin to flow, watching a movie, saying good-bye, tears and more tears; it’s as though the social dam I’ve constructed gets chipped away until there are too many cracks to hold the feelings back.  Everything becomes intense, my friends become a lifeline, it’s no longer just nice to see them, I feel dependent upon them, as if without them, I may die, words spoken with anything other than kindness, feel like knives, music induces feelings of pain and euphoria all at the same time.  I am hyper aware of and easily overloaded with the feelings and interactions and the sheer numbers of people.  This is how I’ve always been.  I understand this about myself.  I am able to function, barely, but not without lots of tears.  So much so that Ibby handed me her plaid handkerchief at one point, causing me to cry even louder and harder and then came over and hugged me as I sobbed on her shoulder.

I become hyper aware of the injustices of the world, I feel both ecstatic to be among so many wonderfully accepting people, while also horrified by the “real” world we live in and must soon return to.  The disconnect starts to feel impossible.  I begin to believe the change so many are trying to create will never come about.  I slide helplessly into despair.  And then I bolster myself up by remembering other people’s words.  At yesterday’s keynote address with Jamie Burke, Sue Rubin, Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette, Tracy typed,  “Larry likes typing out poking fingers on hurtful labeling to push his wrecking ball toward brick walls of structures of old thinking.  What I intend is to push my own ball of fiery passion of change to the global stage and shatter the glass like Pascal did in the city.  Pascal clumsily broke the water glass; Tracy intends to go about the Inclusion Movement more like George Clooney.  Charming Tracy’s plan; worldly connections repairing injustices is the wretches-in-arms plan.”

I have the choice to join all those who are using their “own ball of fiery passion”.  It feels less like a choice and more like an honor.   We can join each other.  Linking our arms, united in making society understand that to include is in everyone’s best interests and all will benefit.

I am ending with photographs from the last three days spent immersed in a world that accepted, appreciated and above all else, presumed one another competent…

Ibby
Ib

Christine Ashby
Christy

Rosemary Crossley
Rosie

Em types with Leah
Leah& Em

Me, Amy & Ibby after our presentation, “Blogging to Communicate”
Ariane, Amy & Ib

Em takes the stage
*Em

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ibby & Larry Bissonnette
Ib&Larrry

Douglas Biklen and Me
Doug &Me

Doug Biklen and Ibby
Ib& doug

Doug Biklen & Amy Sequenzia
Doug&Amy

Mark Utter during the Q & A after the screening of his film, I am in here
Mark Utter

Anne Donnellan
Anne Donnallan

Typing with Emma
Me & Em

Sue Rubin
Sue Rubin

Tracy Thresher
Leading Man Tracy

Emma’s String
Em's String

Em, Mark Utter & Ibby
Em, Mark & Ib

 

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Posted in Autism, ICI Conference, inclusion

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The ICI Conference – Day 2

Posted on July 17, 2013 by | 8 comments

Anne DonnallanDr. Anne Donnellan, Professor in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego gave the keynote address yesterday morning.  She said,  “I’m very happy to say, when it’s true – I don’t know.”  This sentence should be framed and placed inside of every doctor’s, educator’s and professional’s office.  In fact, this should be in every human being’s home, office, place of work, car… well, you get the idea.  Anne went on to say, “If you don’t know the answer, if you’re not sure, what are you going to say?”  She waited for those in the audience who speak to shout, “I don’t know!”  I have pages of notes from Anne’s speech which centered on how autism is mischaracterized as a communication, behavioral and social deficit, yet the massive sensory-movement issues that most Autistics experience is completely ignored.  Early in her presentation she said, “We didn’t notice people with autism have bodies.”  And a little later she said, “We tend to invent knowledge.”  I will be reading Anne’s book, Autism: Sensory-Movement Differences and Diversity by Martha R. Leary and Anne M. Donnellan.

The bulk of the day was spent supporting Em in her typing.   (I dreamt last night Em had taken over Emma’s Hope Book Face Book page!) Our session with Rosemary Crossley was terrific, with a young woman who is aiding Rosie, and all of twenty years old, came over and expertly supported Em in her typing.  Em proceeded to inform us that “math is not my favorite subject in school” and “The subject I like is english.”  Which… yeah…  because excuse, me young lady, but there’s this blog with YOUR name on it, all set to go!  Trying hard to contain my excitement.  Em then typed, “I am very creative.”  And in answer to my question about whether she’d like to maybe write something for the blog at some point, she typed, “I would like that.”  Yet as I write this, I paused just now and asked her if she’d like to write  something now, to which she gave me a resounding “NO!”  But she did say that she didn’t mind if I quoted her in the sentences above.  This is a work in progress for both of us!

Emily and Mark UtterAfter lunch Em and I watched a wonderful documentary by Mark Utter called, “I am in here.”  Before the movie began Mark typed, “i am totally happy you all are moving with me down this fine river.”  Mark is wonderful, and I have to say, he is one of my new favorite friends, even though we have exchanged few words.  I intend to devote a post to his creative and moving movie about what daily life is like for him and how he would respond to people were he able to talk.  Mark is one of a number of people we have met that I hope to stay in touch with.

PascalLater Em and I met with another family who also live in New York City hoping to have a conversation between Em and a non-speaking teen.  Pascal agreed to help facilitate, but as it turned out, I was able to work with Em pretty well with only a few pointers from Pascal.  It was a great day, though it’s really hard work for Em.  Later she typed with Pascal, “Much of my work with people is patterns and things like spelling is like that…”  And then she added, “And I love to work with Pascal.”
This photograph of Pascal was taken by Emma.

I must end this post now, but not before saying, these conferences are profound.  They are profound because of how they are completely unlike the world we live in.  They include, embrace and celebrate difference.  Every person is treated with respect.  People are allowed to be, without judgment.  It is bittersweet to be here, because this afternoon we will have to leave and return to the world that is not even remotely like this tiny piece, of what can only be described as, paradise.

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Posted in Autism, ICI Conference, Parenting

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Live From The ICI Conference In Syracuse!

Posted on July 16, 2013 by | 14 comments

IbYesterday began with Ibby, as any proper day should.  Ib, assistant professor, blogger, activist, advocate and all around amazing human being, gave the keynote opening day address at the Institute on Communication and Inclusion here in Syracuse.  The room was packed.  Everywhere you looked people milled about from all over the country, ranging in age from under ten years to over seventy.  Some sat in wheelchairs, others moved their bodies back and forth, from side to side, some quickly in staccato gestures, others more slowly and rhythmically. Verbal utterances were not cause for stares or frowns, this was not a “quiet room” but a room filled with the sound of human beings in all their vibrant diversity, being themselves without censorship, without admonishment.  You can’t go to a conference like this and not get swept up in the beauty of unedited human beings being.

Ib & SteveJust prior to Ibby’s address I met the wonderfully talented, Stephen Kuusisto of the blog Planet of the Blind. Steve is a poet, author, professor, disability advocate and Fulbright Scholar.  Douglas Biklen, Dean of the School of Education at Syracuse University introduced us. This is Doug’s final conference as acting Dean and so I am particularly grateful to be here before he leaves.

This photo of Ibby and Steve Kuusisto was taken during Amy Sequenzia, Ibby and my presentation, “Blogging to Communicate.”

RosieAfter the keynote, we went to our “Hands-On Skill Building Workshop” with Rosemary Crossley.  Rosie is the one who developed facilitated typing more than 30 years ago in Australia, so I was very eager to meet her, finally.  Rosie went around the room and asked people to introduce themselves.  When she came to Emma, Em sat up and said loudly, “I don’t want to type!  My name is Emma.” To which Rosie said, “Oh! Hello Emma, how old are you?”  Em responded with, “I’m nine.” (Em is actually eleven, but tells people she’s nine, when asked.)  “Have you ever been to Australia?” Rosie asked.  “Yes!” Em answered. This time, however Rosie had a small machine that she held with a “yes” and “no” button on it and a laminated square with the words “yes” and “no”.  “Have you been to Australia?” she asked again.  This time Em, without hesitation pressed the “no” button.  A little later Rosie came and sat next to Emma and asked, “What’s your favorite color?”  While supporting Emma’s elbow, lightly with one hand, Em typed, “Pink.  What’s yours?” Then Em astonished me by continuing to type, “I hate yellow.”  Hate?  Seriously?  I hate yellow too, but really, I had no idea my daughter hated anything, much less a color!  Presume competence.  I’m going to reread that post I wrote…

RalphLater in the day Ralph Savarese and Steve Kuusisto presented on “Autism, the Brain and Poetic Creativity”  where they led participants in a poetry writing workshop.  After which Emma typed to Pascal, “really am telling my sameness self that its good to find different ways to that things and watching Ralph is fun.”  So there you go, Ralph.  A solid endorsement from Em.

Amy Sequenzia gave a personal and moving presentation about blogging and why she blogs, followed by me and then Ib who also spoke about why blogging is such a terrific platform, not least of all because it is interactive and immediate.  Ib then opened our presentation up for questions and comments and then…

Ib, Amy & Ariane

well, and then Em indicated that she’d like to say a few words, so Ib introduced her and Em took over, beginning with – “Ladies and Gentleman…” and ending with a list of all the various doctors, therapists, and people we once took her to see, followed by a list of all the people who now help us.  “Now we have Pascal and Harvey and Ibby and Ibbia (because Ibby has been given her own country, apparently) and Soma…”   Take it away Em!

It's the Em show

*I have to interrupt this post as I have to get to Anne Donnellan’s keynote starting in 30 minutes.  Peyton and Dianne Goddard sent me a copy of Anne’s book two weeks ago and I’ve been carrying it with me ever since.  So when I ran into Anne yesterday I pulled it out and showed it to her.  She is lovely and I cannot wait to hear her.  More to come!

One last photo though before I leave you…

Me with Amy and Ib – you guys rock!

Me, Amy & Ib

 

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Posted in Autism, ICI Conference, Syracuse University

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Being the Adult I Want my Children to Become

Posted on July 12, 2013 by | 20 comments

“Are you the adult you want your child to grow up to be?” ~ Brené Brown from her book Daring Greatly.

Are we being honest here?

Because if we’re being honest, then – no, no I’m not.

I could hit the publish button right now and call this a post, but I’ve got a couple of things to add here.

From Daring Greatly – “…we should strive to raise children who:

  • Engage with the world from a place of worthiness
  • Embrace their vulnerabilities and imperfections
  • Feel a deep sense of love and compassion for themselves and others
  • Value hard work, perseverance, and respect
  • Carry a sense of authenticity and belonging with them, rather than searching for it in external places
  • Have the courage to be imperfect, vulnerable, and creative
  • Don’t fear feeling ashamed or unlovable if they are different or if they are struggling
  • Move through our rapidly changing world with courage and a resilient spirit

Now read every one of these things as a directive for yourself, like this:  Embrace your vulnerabilities and imperfections.  Feel a deep sense of love and compassion for yourself and others.  Carry a sense of authenticity and belonging with you, rather than searching for it in external places.  Don’t fear feeling ashamed or unlovable if you are different or if you are struggling.

I am becoming increasingly aware of how often my critical responses to my children are often reflections of my deepest insecurities. I don’t want them to make the same mistakes I’ve made.  I think I can control their future by making sure they understand just how serious all of this is.  I admonish my son for forgetting to feed the cat, while remembering the time my parents left me in charge when I was fifteen, two years older than my son is now, and how I forgot to feed the horses and had nightmares for years afterward.  I try to remember to phrase my sentences as – You forgot to feed the cat, what might help you remember?  Instead of my knee jerk response of “Did you forget to feed the cat again?  Why can’t you ever remember to do that?”  Because, wow, there’s a world of difference between the two…  and yes, I’ve said both.  The first is when I’m being the adult I want my children to grow up to be and the second is the adult I hope beyond measure they never become.

I worry about what a neighbor is thinking when he asks how we are and my daughter responds with, “Yeah, baby Teddy can’t go on the pogo stick.  Baby Teddy might fall and hurt his head.  Baby Teddy will cry and have to go to hospital…” and then describes how the doctors are going to have to put a breathing mask on baby Teddy.  I stand there feeling increasingly uncomfortable, because I care what our friendly neighbor thinks or because I’m afraid of what this might say about me and the things we put her through years ago?  And even as I am writing this, I marvel at how she really was answering his question, far more honestly than I ever would dare.

The truth is my children are closer to the adult I’d like to be, but am not yet.  I figure since my husband is hard at work figuring out the whole anti-aging thing, I’ve got at least as many decades ahead of me as I’ve got behind me to work on this goal.  I’m grateful for that, really.  I’m going to need every year I’ve got left.

“Have the courage to be imperfect, vulnerable, and creative”

Yup, check.

“Move through our rapidly changing world with courage and a resilient spirit”

Yup, check.   I got this.

Reflections in a puddle

Reflections in a puddle

 

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Beauty in Being

Posted on July 11, 2013 by | 26 comments

A couple of years after my daughter was diagnosed with autism, a well-meaning acquaintance said to me, “God must think you very strong.”  It was one of those comments you wish the person hadn’t said.  I understood they meant well, I understood it was some sort of convoluted compliment, I understood they meant to be something like supportive, but it felt awful.  Least of all because I have never gained any solace from the existence or non-existence of the G-word, but mostly because of its obvious prejudice to those who are Autistic.  The person then followed that sentence with this next one, which was like a second jab to the solar plexus.  “I could never handle an Autistic child.”  I stood there in stunned silence.

At the time I think I probably looked away and tried to untangle the multitude of feelings that surged through me.  But today, now years later, I have a couple of things I want to say.  Let me tell you about my beautiful, perfectly wonderful, very human, child.  She is like the sunlight that glimmers off the leaves of an Aspen tree.  She is that first ripple that appears on a crystal clear lake, extending outward in ever-widening arcs.  She is the sound of rain on fallen autumn leaves, she is the smell of sage brush after an electrical storm, she is the glimmer of morning sunlight when it first appears rising up over snow capped mountains, she is imperfectly perfect and a gift and yes, a blessing.  And if I’m going to be completely, utterly selfish, I must say this:  she has taught me more in her short eleven years of existence than any book, spiritual leader, graduate class, academic study or person I’ve ever read, listened to or met.

I know Emma’s life will have challenges because of her specific neurology.  I know she will often have to fight harder, prove herself more often, work more doggedly and persistently than her non Autistic peers to accomplish things that many do not even consider accomplishments, but assume are a given.  Yet there are some things she can do and will learn to do that will be easier for her than many of her non Autistic peers.  I no longer see autism as a road block, but more as a different road all together.

Every morning I wake up filled with gratitude for my family.   But it is my daughter, my beautiful, beautiful daughter who has introduced me to a world I never knew existed.  A world that is beyond anything I could have imagined, a world filled with other Autistic people who enhance my life and the world on a daily basis because of their existence.  Emma has taught me the true meaning of gratitude.  She impacts my life in ways I will never be able to fully describe or express.  Gifts are like that.  Strength has nothing to do with receiving gifts.  It does not require strength to see the good in others.  It does not require anything actually.

That is another lesson my daughter has taught me –  the beauty in being.

Em testing out her new pogo stick.  Her record?  62 bounces.  

*Blue Pogo Stick

Related articles
  • Reflection (whereartandlifemeet.com – Ariane’s other blog)

 

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We Are Like Your Child: The Blog

Posted on July 10, 2013 by | 27 comments

*To Emma’s Hope Book followers – This post was password protected so that those I quoted could read it first and give their approval before I published.  They have and now it is here for everyone to read!

We Are Like Your Child is a new blog created by a group of people, all of whom have been instrumental in helping me understand autism and what it means to be Autistic.  These are the people I think of as my mentors.  They have helped me more than I can describe.  They are a diverse group in every way, but one.   They all have lived their lives with the same neurology as my daughter.  They are Autistic.  These are the people I often reference when I talk about how our lives changed.  It is their voices, their lives, their stories that have changed mine.  To say I’m excited to introduce their collective blog to all of you, doesn’t really sum up what I’m feeling!  I am grateful.  I am incredibly grateful.

This is exactly the sort of blog I would have devoured, had it existed in 2004 the year Emma was diagnosed.  The year when everything was so terrifying.  The year I began, unsuccessfully, to look for adults who might give me insights into my child’s mind.  We Are Like Your Child is created by those adults.  I will be following eagerly and closely.  Posts so far have included such topics as time agnosia, how one person dealt with having meltdowns as a child, routines and what happens when they are disrupted, and life skills.

A number of the blog’s creators agreed to answer a few of my questions.  (Thank you everyone!)  What follows is a group interview representing the many voices and points of view of its creators.

What is “We Are Like Your Child”?

“We Are Like Your Child is a collective, community blog by disabled, mostly neurodivergent folks.  The name comes from the whole declaration of “You aren’t like my child!  You can X, Y, and Z!” that we hear all too often.  The thing is, my way of doing Z, Y, and X is vastly different from how most people do, because I have a profound inability to do Q, G, and -7 but am absolutely rockin at P, F, and pi or whatever.  So this is kind of a place to write about our self accommodating mechanisms, the workarounds we use to function in a world not even a little built for us.  It’s a collection of coping strategies.  It’s our difficulties.  It’s our strengths.  It’s a collection of awesome people talking about our unique problem solving. ”

“We are more like your children than you know… and while we are all different, we are a roadmap of sorts, a set of guideposts pointing to the many potential directions your child may end up journeying to in the course of their life.”

“There are difficulties and sometimes they are very difficult. I actually do talk about them on tinygracenotes fairly often but since it is in the context of relating to what someone else is asking, perhaps that does not stand out the way it needs to. In this blog, we want to have our stories show that things are sometimes difficult and sometimes very difficult, and yet we live lives.” ~ From the post Lost, Mistimed and Melty.

Why did all of you create this blog?

“The most common stories in the media about disability tend to be inspiration porn or people who have a disability but have never had any problems ever (a subset of inspiration porn) or are the tragedy, doom, gloom narrative.  We are presenting a bit more reality than that.  Reality is sticky and messy and complicated and beautiful and difficult and sparkly all at once.”

“We love your child.  What?  You say we do not know your child?  No, maybe not.  But your child is a member of our tribe, our neuro-tribe, our extended family of those who share similar types of brains and similar ways of being in this world and so we do love your child and we want to try to help the Hard Knocks in their School of Life fall a little softer than they did on us.”

” The number one most important thing to guide you in your journey of parenting an Autistic child is your child.  Listen to your child – really listen.  The number two most important piece of your map in the huge love you have for your child.  Feel that love, feed that love, let that love guide you toward doing the best for your child.  We want to be the third big resource for you.  We are the grown-ups who used to be your child.  We want to help your child.  We want to help you.  We created this place as a bridge between our world and yours where we can meet and conspire.  Our collective job is to make the world a better place for Autistics and , specifically, for the Autistics you know and love.  Let’s work together to make that a reality for all of us.”

Yay!  Who among us doesn’t want to work together to make this world a better place?  I do!  I do!  *Jumps up and down.

Ahem.  My next question:  Who do you want to reach?

“I’m hoping to reach other disabled folks, really.  But I am also hoping to provide a resource for people who know and love disabled kids.  If we’ve tried 8,000 things, none of which are “well don’t be autistic then” and had some success, then maybe that’ll mean some kid doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

“We want to reach other adults who are looking for ways to be in this world that suit their needs better.  We have advice from our own experience.

“We want to reach those who love autistic adults and want to help make their lives better.  We can tell you what kind of help we appreciate and explain why help that is not very helpful is… not very helpful.

“We want to reach parents of Autistic children.  Your child’s diagnosis was not the end of the world!  It was the beginning of a new and beautiful life as a member of our tribe.  Your child is not a tragedy!  Your child is beautiful and we want to rejoice with you in the diagnosis that will help your child get their needs met in ways you never dreamed possible.

“We want to reach anyone who wants to know that the lived experience of autism can be difficult, yes, but can be indescribably beautiful as well. We want to reach anyone who is open to learning about Autistic people and how to accept us, how to live co-operatively with us, or even how to be a happier Autistic yourself.”

The guidelines for submissions can be found ‘here‘, but in addition to what a couple of the creators had to say, I just had to quote from their blog:  “So you think you want to submit to We Are Like Your Child? Great! We want to hear from a large number of people, about how you manage to exist in a world that isn’t made for you, and yet like yourself anyway.”

Who can submit?

“We do not take submissions from not disabled people.  Well, I mean, they can send them, the system won’t explode, but we only print submissions from disabled people.”

“We also don’t print submissions that amount to “I just decided to act normal yay me” or “woe unto me life is terrible bc disability.”  Those markets are pretty saturated.”

Do you encourage people to ask questions?

“Yes!  Please ask questions!  We have a facebook page and we also are all reading comments on the blog itself.”

A wonderful new blog has been born.  Let’s welcome it into the world!

The Blog:  We Are Like Your Child

The Facebook Page:  We Are Like Your Child

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Protected: “We Are Like Your Child”

Posted on July 9, 2013 by | Enter your password to view comments.

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Progress

Posted on July 9, 2013 by | 22 comments

It’s a little ironic that this blog began as a document of my daughter’s “progress” (which, at the time I defined as – becoming indistinguishable from her non autistic peers) and has evolved into a document of my progress and movement away from exactly that kind of thinking.  I don’t really have a problem admitting the mistakes I’ve made, which is probably a very good thing as I am not going to get to a point where I never make any.  But I do my best to learn from them.  I try hard not to beat myself up.  Sometimes I’m more successful at that than other times, but that too is a lesson I learn from.  I didn’t get to any of this on my own.  The progress I’ve made regarding autism, how I think about my daughter and because of that thinking, how I interact with her, is a result of the help I’ve been given.  Help given to me by those who are Autistic.

I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit to times I’ve felt confused, afraid, unsure of myself, and incredibly vulnerable more often than I’d like, but that’s progress too.  There was a time in my twenties and early thirties when I did pretty much anything not to admit I ever needed help, let alone asked for it.  Thankfully I’ve progressed.  So last night when Richard told me about running into one of Emma’s early intervention therapists and how it seemed she was surprised that Emma was not able to carry on a conversation with her, I felt a wave of something I couldn’t immediately identify.  First I cycled through thoughts of “I don’t want to hear your feelings on this,” to “I wish you hadn’t told me about this” to the overwhelming urge to stick my fingers in my ears and yell, “LALALALALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU LALALALALALALALA!!!”

Yeah.  I know.  That would have been childish of me.  And by the way, I’m 52 years old.  You have no idea how much I wanted to do that.  *Shrugs, then smiles. 

Progress…

So after all that, after we got into a fight about something unrelated that I can no longer even remember what the topic was, I realized what I was feeling.  I felt the weight and force of my feelings.  Feelings I really prefer not to have or feel.  Ever.  Shame.  Feelings of shame.  Yup.  Shame.  Like a massive metal door closing in on me, I felt shame.  And then I felt shame for feeling shame.  Fade to black.

Because that’s how this works right?  We feel something and then instead of being able to sit with the feeling, work through it, we add to it by feeling shame for feeling the initial feeling of shame.  Who came up with this stuff?  If it wasn’t so damn painful it would be beautiful in its perfection!  As a friend of mine and I like to say, it’s a “pick your poison” situation.  Whichever way you go, it’s going to hurt.  So yeah, I chose to feel the initial shame and tried hard to be aware of my judgment and that really loud, obnoxious, critical voice that loves to shout at me given the slightest opportunity.  “Shame.  Feeling shame.  Lots of shame,” I said.  Meanwhile Richard had moved on to the New York Times Crossword puzzle and looked at me with confusion.

To be clear – This isn’t about my kid.  This has nothing to do with her, who she is, her neurology, what she did or didn’t say.  This has nothing to do with Richard running into one of her Early Intervention therapists or perceived expectations, either mine, his or the therapist’s.  This isn’t about autism.  This isn’t even about parenting.  This is about perfectionism.  This is about my shame for being an imperfect human being.  That’s what this is about.

Progress…

Reflection

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Early Intervention

Posted on July 8, 2013 by | 32 comments

Last week I wrote a post,  Autism “Experts” about how I used to attribute any action or sentence uttered by my daughter as evidence that whatever therapy or treatment we were employing at the time was “working.”  It was my way of staving off the persistent fear that if we were not intimately involved in a constant barrage of therapies, she would make no progress or whatever progress she made would be less, than if we devoted every waking hour to constant involvement and interaction.  Suddenly every waking moment became a moment we must engage, interact, teach and push for more.

We were told about the human brain and the small window when the brain’s plasticity is at its most optimal for learning.  From the moment that diagnosis was handed to us, we felt we were in a race against time.  Any time we sat down to read the newspaper or took ten minutes in our daughter’s presence to relax and just be in each other’s company without “working” with her was reason for guilt and the feeling that time was slipping away from us.  The nagging worry, if only we did more than we already were, she would be better served, is one I remember well and can still feel the residual stress of.

I want to clarify a couple of things that perhaps were not entirely clear in last week’s post.  I do not believe an autism diagnosis means we sit and do nothing to help our children, but I believe there must be a balance.  What we did was detrimental to all involved and I do not encourage anyone to follow in our footsteps.  All our hard work, the round the clock therapy, (more than 40 hours a week) the training, the evenings and weekends spent taking over once the therapists had gone home, did not ensure our child’s brain was rewired.  She was not mainstreamed within a few years.

This idea, popularized by the book, Let me Hear Your Voice by Catherine Maurice was NOT our story.  I do NOT recommend that book, in fact I urge parents to avoid it.  It was the first one recommended to me by Emma’s ABA supervisor and it set us on a very painful road of discouragement and disappointment, but perhaps even more importantly and destructive, it put into play the belief that Emma’s neurology could and should be “fixed.” And it pushed us further away from any degree of acceptance and eventually embracing and yes, celebrating our daughter for the amazing, uniquely beautiful being that she is.

That early intervention is so often equated with ABA is worrisome to me.  I hope this is changing.  People suggest it is, but when my daughter was diagnosed it was a given.  It was ABA or nothing.  Agencies offered versions of ABA, but it was still ABA.  My child was not helped by ABA.  I would not have done it could I do it all over again.  I’ve written about ABA before ‘here‘ and ‘here‘.  I know many of you feel it has helped your child, many have written to me and described some version of ABA that bears no resemblance to the method used with my daughter.   Evidently ABA has, in some cases, changed.  The bottom line is this – Does it presume competence?  Does it respect the child as a human being?   Is this a method I would use on a child who was not Autistic?

What I would have done when my daughter was first diagnosed was OT.  I would have enrolled her in gymnastics, trapeze school, swimming and I would have introduced her to a stencil board and AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices.  I would have begun using Proloquo2go and many of the terrific Grasshopper apps had we had iPads when Emma was diagnosed.  And I would have begun working with Soma Mukhopadhyay.  In an ideal world all of these things would be a given.  All of these things would fall under “early intervention.”  All of these things would be available to ALL families despite their level of income.  These are the things that have proven to help my daughter.  All children may not respond to the things she has responded to.  But in an ideal world “services” would include an evaluation determining what things would help and a plan would be made.

In last week’s post I questioned those who are not Autistic and have little or no contact outside of a professional setting to those who are and yet call themselves “experts.”  I was not referring to the many professionals who are intimately involved in the autism community (and by that I mean the community of people who are Autistic) who have dedicated themselves to helping our kids and us so that we can be, not only the best parents we can be, but also equipped with information that will help us help our children flourish.  There are a great many of you out there, and to you I am incredibly grateful.  To all those professionals in the field of autism who are not familiar with Autistic blogs, books or do not have have any Autistic people in your life who are friends and colleagues, please become familiar with Autistic people’s work so you can tell parents.  Many parent’s first contact with anyone involved with autism, outside of their child, will be a therapist.

Please make sure parents know there is a growing population of adults who share our child’s neurology.  Even if that means just giving us a list of blogs and books written by Autistic people.  Ideally there would be programs in place that employed Autistic people, just as social workers, therapists, parent liaisons are employed. Autistic people who are interested in interacting with new parents and their newly diagnosed children would become a part of “Early Intervention.”

Ideally we would live in a society where we did not segregate those who were more profoundly affected by physical impairments and do not speak, so that all of us came into daily contact with those whose neurology was similar to our child’s as well as those with an array of impairments.  Perhaps families with older kids who are farther along in the process would volunteer to reach out and be available to other families new to all of this.   The point is that we could help each other more than is being currently done.

No family should feel they are alone, or feel the fear we felt or the terror and worry that dogged us every waking moment of those first years after my daughter’s diagnosis.  Years we spent in a state of almost constant panic that we should be doing more, that if we didn’t we were losing time, that our daughter’s life depended on it and that anything less meant we were failing her.

No one, who is given a diagnosis of autism, should feel they are alone.  None should feel less than or believe they are damaged or broken.  No child should feel ostracized or that the way they process and view the world is “wrong” or “bad.”  None should feel that because they are Autistic, they need to hide or feel abandoned by society. No one should be made to feel ashamed for the way they were born.  No one.  This is what I want to see change.  This is why I keep writing.  All of us can work together to create a world that embraces one another and encourages, rather than condemns.  Each of us can play a small part in making this happen, by increasing our awareness, by accepting difference, by working together.

**Em

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Posted in Autism, Parenting, presume competence

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Autism “Experts”

Posted on July 5, 2013 by | 57 comments

Yesterday Emma asked Richard a question.  It was a question she’d never asked before.  It was a question that made us both inwardly gasp and later discuss at length.  It was one of those things that was noteworthy and made us both rejoice.  It was an example of progress, not just Emma’s, but as I’ll explain, our’s too.  Emma’s reaction to Richard crying out when our impish kitty, Merlin leapt onto his back, was what one might expect, except it wasn’t.  As all four paws, claws extended made contact with Richard’s flesh, Richard howled out in considerable pain.  Emma ran into our bedroom and asked, “What happened Daddy?”

Had we been in the midst of some “therapy” or “treatment” protocol, as we almost always were a few years back, we would have attributed this new, never-before-heard question to that therapy or treatment.  We would have felt a wave of euphoria, believing, even if only briefly, that this new treatment or therapy could be credited for her voicing such a question.  We would have remarked to each other that this was proof and only later, perhaps the following day or day after that, we might have questioned our conclusions.  We might have discussed any other significant thing that might have occurred or we might have waited with guarded excitement for the “next” wonderful thing that would prove to us, once and for all, without a doubt that this thing we were doing was making a difference.  As though our daughter would otherwise stagnate without our constant tinkering.  As though she would not make any “progress” without our various interventions.  As though autism meant complete stagnation and no movement of any kind.

Since we no longer adhere to this line of thinking, we simply spoke of what we’d just witnessed with joy, while shaking our heads at how fabulous it was that we are making progress along side our wonderful daughter.  And as we mutually applauded ourselves for the headway we’ve made, we attributed all of it, her question and our reaction, to what it was – life, maturity, learning, growth and the fact that we humans have a tendency to change and progress and how wonderful is that?!

No one told us this seemingly obvious fact when Em was first diagnosed.  No one told us this, probably because no one thought it necessary to.  Except that in my case anyway, it was necessary.  It was more than necessary.  It was required.  Because with all the misinformation we received upon Emma’s diagnosis, one of the implications was that massive amounts of intervention, forced interaction and jumping through a million hoops was more than necessary, it was required if we wanted to see any “progress.”  It was suggested that if we didn’t do all these things, we might as well resign ourselves to the idea that our child would never move beyond where she currently was.

“I can’t stress strongly enough the importance of diving into action immediately. Every expert in the field agrees that early intervention is essential and critical. The “wait and see” approach is detrimental to your child.” ~  Lynn Koegel and Claire LaZebnik

It should be noted, “Every expert” who is NOT Autistic, may believe this, though I’d argue with the word “every.”  It wasn’t until I began reading blogs written by Autistic people and talking with my Autistic friends, that I started to seriously question this idea.  I also began questioning the whole idea of what “progress” really meant, but that will have to be tackled in another post.  It wasn’t until I began questioning the idea, that I then began also questioning who exactly were these people calling themselves “experts” and how none of them were Autistic, nor did they seem particularly interested in hearing what Autistic people were saying.  Do any of you find it curious that so many of these so-called “experts” do not seem to personally know any Autistic people outside of a clinical setting?  The very people they say they are experts on?  Don’t you find that odd?

Can you imagine if a number of men claimed to be “experts” of women and what it is to be female, but none actually knew any women outside of their professional setting?  Can you imagine that when women spoke up or suggested these views were in direct contrast to what they, as women, lived on a daily basis, these male “experts” ignored them or suggested they couldn’t possibly know what they were talking about because women couldn’t be relied upon to make sense of such things?  Perhaps even suggesting that women tended toward hysteria and being overly emotional? Can you imagine laws being enacted that directly affected women’s lives and their bodies, with a complete disregard for how women felt about such laws?  Any of this sound vaguely familiar?

“What happened, Daddy?”

Em dressed as a pink poodle ~ 2007

Em- poodle

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