When you discover that you might be neurodivergent, one of the first things that you might learnabout is sensory needs or your “sensory profile.” As defined in my previous blog onneurodivergent vocabulary, your sensory profile includes the 5 senses (seeing, hearing, touch,smell, taste) as well as vestibular (balance and movement), proprioception (body awareness andpressure), and …
If you have recently discovered you or someone in your life is autistic, you may know the term “special interest.” In the neurodivergent community, special interests, sometimes referred to as “SpIns” for short, are often a big part of our identities. In one of my previous blog posts, I outlined many neurodivergent terms, one of …
Special Interests: An Autist’s Magical Rabbit Holes Read More »
What is AuDHD? AuDHD is the identity-first term for someone who is both autistic and ADHD. Statistically, it isestimated that between 22-83% of autistic children also have ADHD (Sokolova et al., 2017).That same study found that approximately 30-65% of ADHD children also have significantautistic traits (Sokolova et al., 2017). So, basically, there’s a good chance …
Autism is a neurodivergent condition that heightens a person’s sensitivity to the world around them. Each autistic individual has a distinct brain, and their sensory processing experiences vary. However, a shared characteristic among autistic people is their distinctive sensory processing. Let’s discuss how sensory processing aligns with autism across the five sensory systems. The five …
Girls and women are underdiagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. There are a number of reasons for this. Most importantly, though, is that the vast majority of research into autism has been specific to boys. In some studies, boys are reported to be 15 times more likely to have autism than girls. Let’s talk about why …
Research indicates that autistic people are more likely to identify as belonging to the LGBTQ+ community. This means that autistic people can experience a wider range of gender expression. Furthermore, autistic people are more likely to not be straight. Basically, it’s not uncommon to be gay and autistic. Obviously this doesn’t mean that being autistic …
ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is a type of psychological intervention that is based in an concept that’s explained in this distressing 1965 Life Magazine article: “forcing a child’s outward behavior” would, “effect an inward psychological change”. Basically, if I can get my autistic child to act like they’re not autistic, they’ll start behaving more neurotypically. …
“It Causes More Harm Than Good” – The Dark Side of ABA Therapy Read More »
