New Books

I am creating a list of what I consider some excellent books about Autism and Aspergers.
You can find the list in the sidebar. I've had two books listed there for a while by my favorite author, William Stillman because he "GETS IT" and I'd like to add three more. All Cats have Aspergers is a funny book that you will enjoy. The Out of Sync Child goes into detail about sensory issues that many people on the spectrum have and last a new book by Mr. Stillman called, Empowered Autism Parenting. It's a good book filled with a ton of good information for anybody who knows and loves someone on the Autistic spectrum.
Please consider looking over these books.

Do you see the light? I do, and I don't like it. It's almost everywhere I look. The lights are florescent and I don't like them because they are so bright and they make a humming sound. You may not be able to hear them humming but I sure do, all day long. They are located in schools, stores, libraries, museums, bathrooms almost all public places, sometimes they are even in some homes.

It's tough to concentrate with the noise they make. It's tough to see when they are glaring at you. I have had trouble with these lights for years. I spend allot of time in school and school is full of them.

My teachers and parents have worked hard to make some accommodations for me so that I feel less distracted and more comfortable. Sometimes we have been able to turn off every other light on the ceiling. Other times, we are able to turn them out completely and use available light from outside. Still another way around this constant distraction is to replace them with the incandescent light bulb.

As students return to the classroom it might be a good idea to survey the room and find out how to accommodate the students so they can concentrate on their work.

Another School Year Has Started

With the new school year comes many new things, new schedules, different lunch time and certainly different teachers, different classrooms, different lockers and combinations, many new numbers that I need to remember. It's allot to think about and remember on just the first day of school. All this new information is a bit of OVERLOAD!

People on the Autistic spectrum have different methods to communicate, some scream, some cry, some flap their hands. One of my ways to communicate exactly how I feel is through drawing. In the beggining of the school year everyone is issued an agenda, it has plenty of space to doodle. I drew a cartoon of myself. It had three frames. The first frame was a picture of me with my head smoking. The second frame was the word, "BOOM" with explosion marks around the word. The final frame, there I was again, my head half blown off, it was on fire and smoking heavily. The word OVERLOAD hanging over my exploded head.

I felt like I was about ready to explode but I'm sure I looked perfectly normal to my classmates and teachers. On the inside, I smelled smoke-the fuse was lit-BOOM! I held it together, but I wasn't happy. I had to hold it together even on the long bus ride home, then, when I got home I had to sit on the floor. It takes me a long time to decompress. I know the teachers think that I am perfectly fine but in the inside I may be having an enormous meltdown. I need to feel safe before I can explode but sometimes people on the spectrum cannot hold it together. Sometimes they need to explode immediately, and this sometimes looks like tantrums, hand-flapping, screaming, crying, jumping up and down, and throwing things.

This is the same situation for not only school but for other things as well, like sports and games and grocery shopping and family outings.

It's important to be compassionate, we just need a little time, please be patient.

I'll talk more about this at a later date.

Blog Trouble- We all have it sometimes

I had a password malfunction and I was unable to log in, but now I have fixed the problem, I will be back to blogging.

I've been busy in the last few days, volunteering at a local camp for kids between the ages of 6 and 10,and I also gave a presentation yesterday. I've been doing these presentations for several months for different groups of people who want to know more about Autism and Aspergers. I enjoy doing them because I can spread the message of hope and possibilities.

One of the stories I often tell during my program is one that helps people to better understand how things are taken very literally by individuals on the spectrum.

Many years ago while I was learning to play baseball I experienced a situation that is a perfect example of my literal way of thinking. I was up at bat and I hit a pretty good shot into the outfield and my coach screamed, "Christopher, run to second" so, knowing where second base was, I ran across the field, over the top of the pitchers mound directly to second base, bypassing first base completely. People were screaming at me. I did not know why. The coach told me to run back to first, then he told me to run back to second. This made no sense to me at all and I was confused for a while. Later, when I came off the field, many people tried to explain it to me and then I understood this game of baseball obviously had some hidden secrets codes that were not made clear to me. Maybe somebody should have explained it to me and I would have been able to play without so many people screaming at me.

As I got older, I realized that there were many secret codes for allot of different things. For a while I had to rely on other people to help me decode your every day things, that gets to be frustrating and tiring. I am getting allot better now at decoding, but sometimes it can still be difficult.

Many people with Autism have trouble with decoding, it would help if those of you who work with, live with or interact with people on the spectrum, would take a minute to decode what you are saying. People on the spectrum would be able to understand you so much quicker if you do so.

This weekend I went camping with the Boy Scouts. I am an active scout and I enjoy the scouting program, but my Aspergers affects my experience.

An example of this is, you may be able to socialize with friends, however I prefer to sit quietly and practice my knots. This doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying myself. It simply means I have no problems with being alone and doing what I enjoy. Another affect of Aspergers on my experience is poor night vision. I find it very difficult to see at night so I usually need two flashlights to feel comfortable. I have often experienced teasing because I need two flashlights and sometimes I'm teased about being afraid of the dark but it's not a matter of fear, it's more being uncomfortable in the dark with my surroundings. My sitting quietly and difficulty with darkness stems from the Aspergers, but I certainly wouldn't consider quitting scouting because of it. I just do what I need to do and sometimes that's OK with people and sometimes it's not. When it's not, I try to explain the situation to them, sometimes that works and other times it doesn't. When my explanation doesn't seem to help, I just stay away from them. Then, it appears as if I am being even more unsociable. This feels like a never ending circle, that leads to allot of frustration. Something I wish I could change. If we could all be more tolerant of each other and be excepting of each others situations we could learn more about each other and what our strengths and needs are.

Never stop doing what you enjoy because of your Aspergers and Autism, instead accept it and know that sometimes, you're going to have to be tolerant of the people who just don't get it.

At some of the seminars I do, many people have asked me, "if you had a choice to have Aspergers or not, what would you choose?"


My answer has been and shall always be that I would NOT get rid of my Aspergers. I say this because I believe that I am very smart as a result of the Aspergers, I have learned so much about autism and Aspergers and I do very well in school. Also, I would never have met the people that I know today if I had been born a neuro-typical. The people that I have met and established friendships with have been very close friends and they have helped me and continue to help me with my Aspergers and life in general. The many people that I have met I have great respect for. They understand me and I understand them and they are exceptionally good kind people. I have found that people on the spectrum because of their heightened sensitivity are kind, gentle, thoughtful people who care greatly for those around them.





Here's an opportunity for me to squash another autistic myth. When you hear the word AUTISM, most people probably think about a small child sitting on the floor flapping their hands and you probably think of words, "in their own little world." You always have to remember that autism is a spectrum disorder and that means that there are many different levels or intensities of autism. Some people may indeed flap their hands and be non-verbal while some are simply quiet and others have plenty to say. So to say that autistic people are in their own little world is simply not true at all. We want to interact with people and make new friends but some of the time we enjoy our alone time. Please remember that we are generally not lonely but would rather just be alone for a short time.