Category Archives: Sensory Related

Anything related to sensory issues, overloads, or nice things.

Recommendation: Splines Theory by Luna Lindsey

So, I was taking a look at my stats (yay, people are interested in my analysis of the problems with the SD article!), and I noticed a referring link from www.lunalindsey.com. I went, okay, I haven’t seen this before… so I clicked on the link.

The post is titled: Splines Theory: A Spoons Metaphor for Autism. In it, Ms. Lindsey looks at the spoons metaphor for dealing with energy resources with invisible disabilities, and some issues she has with it, and provides a new metaphor for exploring what’s going on that causes us to have energy drains and difficulty changing routines and such. (And a commenter adds another metaphor, for those who aren’t a comfortable with computer-oriented ones.)

It’s a rather interesting look at things, and resonates with me. Quite a bit. It makes sense – even more sense than the spoons metaphor (which is incorporated into the Splines Theory as a whole). I like it.

So I’m recommending this post. 😉

🙂 tagAught

Let’s Talk About: Modes of Thought – Followup

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This post is a followup to Let’s Talk About: Imagination and Modes of Thought. Partially because while I wasn’t entirely wrong about my “mode of thought”, I wasn’t exactly correct about it either; and partially because there’s a new Tumblr blog out there called “Autistic Thinking” that I recently stumbled across. The aim of the Autistic Thinking blog is to: “[describe] the different and possibly unusual patterns of thought and perception experienced by autistic people of all types. It’s meant to show how diverse we actually are, compared to the simplified ideas other people have of us”, to quote the blog description. And reading it, I got inspired to write this post, because of my recent ruminations about how exactly I do think.

Want to read my thoughts on this? Go on! 🙂

Recommendation: What Is Autism? by Nick Walker

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This is a guest post on the blog Raising Rebel Souls. Nick Walker is autistic, and has come up with a description of autism that matches my own experience and, as I understand it, the experiences of the majority of my fellow autistics, no matter where they might fit on the spectrum. He also removes the pathologizing element from the equation / description, and writes clearly, presenting facts as they are known.

I highly recommend that everyone read this post: Guest Post from Nick Walker: What is Autism?

Or, alternatively, you can also find the details of his part of the post (though not Mom2Rebels’ additional comments) at his own blog, Neurocosmopolitanism, at What Is Autism?

🙂 tagAught

Camp NaNoWriMo: April 9th, 2014

NL Voluntary Autism Registry

Recommendation: Relaxation / Time Out Bottles

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My sister (the one with the three kids ;)) mentioned in a chat with Mom today that she’d made these neat “time out bottles” to deal with arguments between her two oldest, and she’s also making one for the autistic son of a friend of hers. She showed them to us over the chat, and they look like they’d work very well for dealing with overstimulation and needing to relax, so when she told me how to find them, I grabbed the website and checked it out.

I think I’m going to make some for me. *nods firmly*

http://mycrazyblessedlife.com/2011/10/03/relax-bottletime-out-timer/

Check it out!

😉 tagAught

ASNL: Connections Panel

Recommendations: DSM-5 ASD Criteria Analysis

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Update Jun. 15/17: Updated all links to Unstrange Mind’s new website.

And we’re back again with Unstrange Mind, who is doing all of us the favour of going through the DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnostic criteria, and analysing it in terms of what it means both for those who are already diagnosed (even though we’re grandfathered in), and those who will be looking for a diagnosis. (Note: Frankly, based on her analysis and just what the criteria says, I fit even better in the ASD diagnosis than I did in Asperger’s! I may have said that before, but it bears repeating.)

Her analysis is not yet finished, but (as mentioned in the top note), I will continue to update as it progresses. However, I thought it was important enough that I want to start getting it out now.

Here we go:

Autism and the DSM-5: Losing Your Diagnosis?: An explanation of the coming posts, and the fact that you don’t lose your diagnosis with the new criteria.
Autism and the DSM-5: Diagnostic Criteria (Section A): Section A covers deficits in social communication and interaction.
Autism and the DSM-5: Diagnostic Criteria (Section B): Section B covers restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour (including interests).
Autism and the DSM-5: Diagnostic Criteria (Section C): Section C covers the timing of symptoms. U.M. considers this section huge, because it recognizes that symptoms may appear different at different stages in life.
Autism and the DSM-5: Diagnostic Criteria (Section D): Section D looks at how much of an impairment in daily living the symptoms cause.
Autism and the DSM-5: Diagnostic Criteria (Section E and Severity Levels): Section E looks at other possibilities for the symptoms; severity levels are ways to measure the current severity of the symptoms in sections A & B (and they are to be measured separately, and are listed as fluid, potentially changing back and forth over time). Severity levels replace the “high functioning” and “low functioning” labels, which I suspect pleases a lot of my fellow autistics. It certainly pleases U.M. She has also posted the contents of “Table 2”, which lists the criteria for the severity levels.
DSM-5 and Autism: Development and Course (Part 1): The first paragraph in the commentary section about the development and course of autism (there are seven, each one will be covered in an individual post).
DSM-5 and Autism: Development and Course (Part 2): The second paragraph in the commentary section, this one concentrates on “regression” – which isn’t necessarily the preferred term, but is the one used by the DSM. U.M. illustrates this issue with some personal examples.
DSM-5 and Autism: Development and Course (Part 3): The third paragraph in the commentary section concentrates on first signs of autism; U.M. again illustrates this issue with personal examples (making it real for people).
DSM-5 and Autism: Development and Course (Part 4): The fourth paragraph continues the early signs of autism, referencing deafness and the fact that allistic children show some of the same repetitive and restrictive behaviours as are typical of autism, but not to quite the same extent (“[t]he clinical distinction is based on the type, frequency, and intensity of the behavior”).

More to follow as they are posted. This is a highly recommended set of posts, and I encourage everyone who has any interest in ASD and what the criteria is to read them.

Stimming Survey

AutistiCook has a stimming survey set up; it’s now got enough responses that it can serve as a resource for people, but it can always use more. The more responses and details, the better! I encourage people to fill it out; especially as it’s not “just” for autistic stims, but for any kind of stims.

Stimming Survey

The original stimming survey post….

The stimlist needs your help….

Stimming Survey results

😉 tagAught

Behaviour is Communication; Violence is Behaviour

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There have been a lot of discussions around my blog “circle” about Kelli and Issy, and what violence from autistics actually means, and what are some ways to deal with it (both from the autistic and the parent point-of-view). In fact, as I believe I mentioned in yesterday’s post, there are some specific posts on other blogs about the subject I want to recommend. I also want to talk about my own experience (minor) with violence in myself, as requested by Ariane in her post in Emma’s Hope Book on Tuesday (see below, it’s one of the ones I’m recommending you read).

Continue on to see more of what I’m talking about with the title.