A dangerous, yet common, misconception in regard to autistic kids is that they will eat if they’re hungry enough. The reality is that hunger, appetite and sensory input all battle each other. Autistic individuals often have interoception that is quite different from what their parents or the adults in their lives are experiencing. Interoception is…
Stim Toys Quality stim toys can be hard to find, since fidget toys and chewy jewelry, or chewelry, is trendy. Even the higher priced ones don’t always promise quality, or the ones with great reviews just aren’t within your budget. Several popular stim toys can be made at home from everyday household objects, or using…
Self Injurious Behavior and Autism Self-injurious autistic behaviors do not illustrate why stimming, or self-regulatory behaviors, are bad. Stimming is harmless by default and crucial to autistic individuals’ ability to self-regulate and cope with everything in their life and the world. Instead of seeking to stop autistic stims altogether, self-injurious behaviors can be redirected to…
You might have heard about autistic meltdowns, but what about autistic shutdowns? The two terms are often used interchangeably by non-autistic autism professionals, but autism meltdowns and autism shutdowns are two completely different things. Difference between Autistic Meltdowns and Autistic Shutdowns Autistic shutdowns are NOT meltdowns, and recovering from them is not the same either….
When your Child Lies As I often begin many articles, I state “this has been coming up in the Facebook group a lot lately.” And, it has. I’m going to try to present this issue (lying and ADHD or other disabilities) as succinctly and unbiased as possible. But, to me honest, it’s very triggering for…
Feces Smearing One of the most unpleasant parts of parenting is the gross stuff we sometimes have to encounter. It starts out fine, right? A little baby throw up and dirty diapers–no big deal! But what if you, ahem, have some issues long after your child is no longer a baby? What about poop smearing?…
Best Noise Cancelling Headphones The world is a noisy place. Heck, sometimes I wish I had noise-cancelling headphones. But if your child has Autism, ADHD or anxiety disorder, being out in noise can be brutal. These various conditions can make it near impossible to process what someone is saying if there is a lot of…
Gift for Disabled Teenager and Adults Teens and adults with autism and disabilities can be so hard to buy for! This post was crowd sourced from my friends and from members of our Facebook Group and what I could pull from Twitter. If you are buying a gift for autistic adults or a gift for…
Fidget Toys I recently participated in a local consignment sale. My youngest son had quite the collection of fidget spinners. That was a short-lived trend, wasn’t it? I’m kinda glad it’s over. For him, anyway. But, for some kids with ADHD, Fidget Spinners and Fidget Toys are therapeutic. I just hope that the trend of…