I feel this is a great step for the website to create more of a community. As some may have noticed, I haven’t updated nearly as frequently, which I intend to change over the summer. Most of us as parents have very little time, but we all frequently check our emails, typically. This gives a way for us to have a community without having to daily check a forum.

I will update again very soon, so check back if you don’t get notified of updates.  I have a lot of exciting things coming up, with kids, self, and advocacy!

Share/Save

Autism Awareness means…

Autism Awareness means a lot of things to a lot of people. To some, like myself, it is hope for the future. For adults with Autism, awareness brings the chance to spread a message of acceptance, accommodation and accessibility. Our hope for the future is to have the outside world understand ‘our kind.’

I hope this not only for myself, but for my two Autistic children as well. Our family believes in Neurodiversity. Neurodiversity states that neurological conditions are a normal human variation. The abnormal neurology gives each of us areas of strength as well as various difficulties. Those areas of strength and deficit can vary greatly between each individual.

The hard areas that can be, should be treated. Intervention is still one of the best predictors of independence as an adult. What can’t be treated though should be accommodated. Other areas should be accepted. Is the behavior harmful? Does it cause the person great stress? Those are some of the questions we on the spectrum ask parents to think about. The most important aspect though is that we have access to all the things that can help us be meaningful contributors to our communities.

Autistic people from all functioning levels can be helped by the goals of Neurodiversity. Accessibility gained to keep a person in their own home rather than be institutionalized. Accommodations can be made to find employment, much like the programs by Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. Alternative and Augmentative Communication devices would help relate to others their needs. For children, Neurodiversity means equipping their peers with social awareness to prevent bullying and promote acceptance of the unique differences.

All any parent in this world asks for is a happy, healthy child. Proper treatment, awareness, and acceptance can help all parents achieve that. You can start within your own communities, your own schools and playgrounds, or even your own home. Love and compassion begets acceptance. Everything else will start from there.

I hope you all enjoy. Those of you taking a look at my website for the first time, I welcome you.

Share/Save

When I get the chance, I will see if I can connect to Google Buzz for those that are interested in that as well. I do have a current Buzz page set up for my private use that our twitter site is linked with. But it might be nice to have all social domains covered (except for MySpace because I loathe MySpace).

Share/Save

ASParenting was started with the idea that all parents with Autism Spectrum Disorders could find a place of support and strength. What I have found, though, is that I’m not supporting all ASD parents. I’m only one person with one set of experiences. I know nothing of raising NT children, or a mix of NT and AS children. I know nothing of the perspective of a father. Nor do I know what it’s like to be a parent with adult children.

So today I’m asking those of you who peruse this site,  if you or someone you know would like to help blog on this site, to send an email. No matter your background, whether self-diagnosed or professionally. I would like to give the chance for other parents to blog about things we all could benefit from.

If you or someone you know is interested, please send me an email. You can use the contact form, or email directly to melody@asparenting.com. Just a little introduction is all that’s needed. I will also make a post on the forum if you’d like to drop your info there.

Share/Save

For this website, I have come up with some goals that I hope many of you will be able to help with. I know we have frequent visitors, I’d love to have an introduction from each of you. I find myself not knowing what to post about.

I also want to start setting up information pages. I would love any input. If you have information on any parenting issues, feel free to send the information to melody at asparenting dot com. I will make sure you get credit for any information on the website. If you have a blog or website, I will make sure to link back to it.

I have wanted to update the look of the website. Today I did so and hope you all like it. I’m hoping we can finally get some discussion going. This is just as much for me as it is for all of you, so let’s see what we can do to make it great!

Share/Save

I’ve also upgraded bbPress to the final release. If you find any errors, please let me know ASAP. As seamless as they try to work together, sometimes it does not happen as quickly and easily as I’d like. My husband and I are also trying to figure out a way to create a better Featured Post plugin. This way it will only feature the most current blogs.

If there is anything you would like to see, please let me know ASAP. I’ve set up webmaster@asparenting.com for any website related issues.

Share/Save

Or specifically, when my brain doesn’t work. I’ve never liked that phrase. My brother used it a lot growing up, “Uh…. My brain’s not working.” I knew what he meant as he and I had a lot of the same issues (though, he has had a harder time overcoming some than I have). But still, the phrase leaves me feeling, — I don’t know — ignorant? betrayed? I know the right word is there.

I work as much as I can to keep myself going and connected. For some reason though, the past couple of weeks, this has not happened. I’m not exactly sure what happened to cause my brain to finally shut off, but it did. I was distant with all of you who come here, with those on lists I usually frequent, with my friends and family, and worse of all my husband and children. I didn’t stop caring for them, I just had a hard time connecting.

I’m back and trying to jump start my brain. Diving in head first, so to speak. I’ve done this before, but I’ve never had a reason why this happens. Even now, I don’t think I have a solid one. Just that I finally couldn’t really handle interactions. This is not an apology or an excuse or even a reason. But I hope that some of you read this and realize you’re not alone when these things happen.

Upcoming this week, Future Horizons’ SuperConference where Tony Attwood, Temple Grandin, Jed Baker and Carol Kranowitz will be speaking. I will be going for several reasons. I do plan on updating periodically from the conference via my phone. I do plan on helping with ASAN’s efforts to confront Tony Attwood’s associations with FAAAS and their affiliates.

Share/Save

I have so many things I’m wanting to touch on. I think tonight after the boys are in bed I’m just going to have to start making posts. I will wait to publish until consecutive days. I would like some input as to what those of you who are reading would like to hear about.

In the upcoming days, I’m going to be discussing Self-Advocacy on a Global Level, Issues with Cassandra Affection Deprivation Disorder, ABA to the Autistic Family, and Reinvention of the Family.

Please give me anything you would like to read about.

Share/Save

As well, I’ve used a service to get a more seamless integration. I do need to figure out why I’m getting their default logo for the posts. I am also looking for a way to have a feature news story at the top and underneath the categories, a way to have a livefeed of other blogs which are of importance to AS parents.

Finally, I redid the logo. I mainly did this because I’m hoping to make myself a t-shirt. I liked the old logo, but it doesn’t suit my personal taste for apparel. The new colors I feel do. If for some reason others decide they’d like to make it into a t-shirt, I don’t mind sending out the logo via email. I do have it in a much larger size. The logo was created by manipulating an infinity sign, adding a spectrum of colors, and then adding the two newly formed letters together. So there is an element of the neurodiversity movement symbol in it.

Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions on improvements!

Share/Save

ASAN, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, is what it sounds like. Autistic people advocating for change. I first heard of the group during the 2008 political campaign. Many parents of autistic kids fired arrows at the president of ASAN, Ari Ne’eman, saying he didn’t know what it’s “really like.”

At the time, I was pretty new to the neurodiversity movement. While I agreed with the sentiment, I had a hard time defending his statements. I refound ASAN when I finally settled back down here in Texas. After having reconfirmed my Asperger’s diagnosis, I can say without a doubt, I know what it is to live in an alien world.

I do believe, no matter how naive it sounds, that we can live in harmony. Whether or not they can live in harmony with us, we need to try to understand them as much as we want them to understand us. More on these thoughts later.

If you would like to be included in writing for ASP, please e-mail me! I would love to include others thoughts and suggestions!

Share/Save