What?

April 1st-7th is Autism Awareness Week.

Who?

If you have any sort of relative, be it children, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts, parents, or even friends, that may or do have autism spectrum disorders, or want to learn more about it, and have an open mind, read on.

First off, I’d like to point out that I do in-fact have diagnosed Autism/Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Alright

With that out of the way, some pointers and some knowledge about autism.

First,

Give them a bit of your time and patience, but most of all, let them know that they are not the only one. Far from it. There are millions of children, teens, young adults and older adults that have Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Second,

It is not a disease to be cured. Autism is a fundamentally different brain configuration.

Third,

most importantly.. Don’t just assume that they have to be screaming to be autistic. They might be, but that screaming means that they are overstimulated and/or their trigger has occurred, whether that be a multitude of things. Such as arguing, interrupting them when they are trying to get a thought out, having them do something outside their ‘self-described’ schedule, over-stimulation or stressors in a work environment.. such as retail, big crowds, like in a restaurant, or event venue among others.

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Here’s some things that may show that your child or you or w/e person you see, might have autism.

As noted for each group of ages.

  • All – Not wanting to be touched, or only by certain people.
  • Children – Non-verbal or delayed speaking development.
  • Repetitive motions, e.g. tics or as they are called in this context, stim’s
  • All – Overly agitated when interrupted.
  • All – Can’t sit still or has to fidget, bites fingernails, pencils, pens, etc.
  • All – Cannot understand sarcasm, or has an affinity for languages or both.
  • All – Shuts down and or hurts themselves when stressed, like slamming their head or hands into things when they are over-stimulated, or in the case of shutting down, they will look at the person talking to them but make no motions to acknowledge them.
  • I for one have literally slammed my head against the cooler door at a McDonalds I used to work at in 2008 when I got stressed out from loud noises and beeping.
  • All – An affinity for technology, like in excess.
  • All – Cannot understand social cues, including but not limited to, sarcasm, ‘taking the hint’, ‘you picking up what i’m putting down’, and other similar figures of speech.
  • Overly precise when speaking, or has to elaborate on things.
  • It may be my OCD but I myself have to repeat some things because I /need/ to put them into my brain how I put them. Any