So. I'm the daughter she was just talking about. As I recall, I think I found out about my diagnosis when I was ten, and sat in on my first IEP meeting in sixth grade. So you might be wondering, if you're the parent reading this, what it's like to be on the spectrum, compared to being neurotypical.
Well, I'm not sure I can express it fully, simply because brains working different ways mean that
A: Communication is a bit more difficult comparatively (I'm better writing than speaking, but still, it's not perfect), and
B: There are things that seem perfectly normal to me that might not be. For instance, I listen in on conversations a lot of the time if they're in earshot, and sometimes join in. It's not really eavesdropping as such, because I can't really tune them out. Even if, say, I'm in the car with my mom, and she's on the phone while the radio's on, I can't just focus on the radio because I'm listening to both at the same time. Hypersensitivity to sound- it does that. So it's kind of hard to mention everything about the experience, because there are some things I do which I just don't notice and register as abnormal. Everyone fidgets, for instance, but I don't think many people fidget by, say, taking out their 3DS and playing a round or two of Doctor Mario while someone's talking.
But this blog isn't about that, I don't think. It'll come up, of course, but there are other blogs and books and various things online that can explain it, and at least a few can probably do so better than I can. Mainly because if you get paid to speak about being autistic at a conference or something, you'd better be able to do so at least as well as the 19-year-old girl doing so for a summer project who has some experience helping others one-on-one, but that's about it.
Instead, this blog is about the more practical stuff, since it is geared towards parents. As my mom said in the first post, I have, with the help of a large support network, managed to graduate from high school, make it through the ceremony (for the record? Not that fun for a school as large as mine), and live on-campus over an hour away from home for a year. While I never went to a major school dance (I was going to go to prom, but already had an excuse to wear a pretty dress so I went to dinner with my friends and their moms instead), I did attend the Birthday Ball (a sort of equivalent to prom or homecoming) this year, and had a good enough time I'll attend next year. I walked over a mile, alone, to see The Hunger Games while I was at school. They're not as conventionally impressive achievements, but for someone who once got lost walking home from the pool (you have to turn maybe ONCE, younger me!), it's a big step up. I think several people in said support group were more excited to hear I attended the Birthday Ball and even danced with some people I knew there than that I'd finished a semester living on-campus at Washington. At the very least, it was the thing I heard more about. I think part of it was that I'd already lived three weeks on-campus in College Park a couple summers ago, as a test run, and we knew WAC was the right school for me, but going to a dance was a new experience.
The thing about autism is that different goals are going to be easier or harder, just because it affects people differently depending on where they are on the spectrum. The movie thing was probably what I'm most proud of, actually, because I only knew where the place was after seeing it one time while I was in that particular strip mall section, and had to cross traffic intersections at least once or twice. That, and it was more successful than graduation, which I pretty much got through by reading all the way through a book during the ceremony. Some kids might be able to handle it. Some might not. My personal record for sitting in a pep rally if there is any other option is about three minutes, and that's with earplugs. It might be that another kid on the spectrum can sit through them, but is completely unable to walk that far alone without a map near a large road. Who knows? But I can say that these tips helped for me, and I've tried to make them general enough to help as many kids as possible. Hopefully it works.
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