All We Need is Love and Laughter

“Vestibular sense provides information about where the body is in relation to its surroundings. This is the sense that helps you understand balance, and it connects with all the other senses.

When the vestibular system does not develop properly all other senses will struggle to function properly. Without a strong vestibular sense, kids will have no choice but to fidget, get frustrated, experience more falls and aggression, get too close to people when talking, and struggle with focusing and listening. Because they literally cannot help it.”

“Here are a few ways to support your child’s vestibular sense:

Spinning in circles.

Using a Merry-Go-Round.

Rolling down a hill.

Spinning on a swing.

Going upside down.

Climbing trees.

Rocking.

Jumping rope.

Summersaults or cartwheels.

Using monkey bars.

Skating.

Going backwards.

Swimming.

Dancing.

Wheel-barrel walks.”

Yeeting kids, spinning them, flipping them upside down, tossing them in the air, and otherwise disrupting their balance temporarily, is Important For Their Development, specifically for their vestibular sense.

We all seek proprioceptive input, leaning against walls, pushing against the steering wheel when driving, giving your body a squeeze to wake yourself up, the list goes on! When we ‘crash’ kids into soft things like pillows or beds, we’re waking their bodies up AND calming their bodies down! In other words, getting them into this super nice zone of “just right” regulation. 

When I see a child who is bouncing off the walls and can’t seem to stand still for more than a few seconds? I start wrestling with them, crashing them into pillows, giving their body the right amount of input they need to feel good and organised. And suddenly, this kid is able to sit and play attentively or do their handwriting practice. It’s amazing! If you want to know more about why the vestibular and proprioceptive systems are awesome at making your body feel good, google those two words (and sensory processing) and read through some occupational therapy websites! 

Side note: As adults, does your body ever feel jittering/jiggly/wiggly/like it needs to move or calm down but you just can’t figure out why? That’s your sensory system saying Hey! I need to feel differently in order to function better! Here’s what you can do:

Jump up and down (vestibular and proprioception)

Give yourself big squeezes (proprioception)

Place your hands on a wall and do push ups (proprioception)

Do cartwheels (vestibular and proprioception)

Get someone to give you the biggest bear hug for at least 10 seconds (proprioception and social connection, also proven to help regulate your sensory system into just right zone!)

Get a drink of water and drink it through a straw OR blow bubbles into the water (way more fun!) (oral motor input and respiration)

Have a shower or a bath (tactile)

Stretch and do exercise (vestibular and proprioception)

Eat something crunchy or chewy (like chips or gum) (oral motor input)

Listen to some music that suits your mood (auditory)

etc etc etc! I’m sure you already have a strategy that your body has figured out works for you. I personally like to chew gum when I feel like i need to eat something but I’m not actually hungry and just need that chewing sensation in my jaw. 

okay

Yes, executive dysfunction does frequently result in people wanting to do stuff, but not doing that stuff. That’s why people use the term that way.

IT ALSO MEANS A LOT OF OTHER THINGS. Including but not limited to: trouble remembering facts, trouble monitoring time, trouble stopping of finishing things you have started, struggling to regulate emotions (ex. getting very upset by minor setbacks)

With April around the corner,

I want to ask of you, whoever may be reading this,

to please not support, send money to, share or otherwise participate in anything related to Autism Speaks in the month of April, 

or ever, for that matter.

Autism Speaks may look like a good organization on the outside, but they’re not the perfect puzzle their media makes you think they are (see what I did there?).

For example:

-More than 96% of their money goes to “autism research”, fundraising, supporting “families with autism”, and not to actual autistic people themselves (link to source here: http://www.rootpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AutismSpeaksFlyer_color_2017-1.pdf).

-Autism Speaks is searching a cure for autism (what their research money goes to), which causes harm to autistic people who are treated with things like ABA therapy (which Autism Speaks endorses) to appear “normal”.

-Autism Speaks’ fundraising team made a horrific videos called “I Am Autism” and “Autism Every Day”. The former compared autism to cancer & diabetes and makes out autistic people as something to be feared (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UgLnWJFGHQ), and the latter includes a woman talking about wanting to murder her child because she is autistic (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0vCz2KWMM0) (Please watch at your own risk.)

-The origin of the infamous puzzle piece logo comes from the myth that autism is a “boy’s disease” (hence the blue color & Light It Up Blue campaign), that only children can be autistic (hence the infantilizing image & color palette), and that autistic people are puzzles to be figured out and solved.

-Autism Speaks doesn’t actually consult autistic people. In their history, only two people on their Board of Directors have been autistic, and one of them, an author, resigned, realizing his mistake (link to his statement about his resignation here: http://jerobison.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-resign-my-roles-at-autism-speaks.html).

I could go on and on, but these are the most important reasons to not want anything to do with this organization.

I know for many of you, this was the support you were given after your child’s/sibling’s diagnosis and you weren’t made aware of any other organization to help you. I understand that. I blindly believed they were good too.

But the truth of the matter is, they’re not.

If you want to support autistic people, support organizations like Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (autisticadvocacy.org) who make the voices of autistic people the most important when discussing our rights and our freedoms.

Autism Speaks does none of this. If anything, they make our voices the most quiet when they should be the loudest.

If you don’t have an autistic relative, or aren’t autistic yourself, you may be wondering: “What can I do?”

And to that, I say: share our stories. Listen to what we have to say. Ask questions if you don’t understand. Don’t assume that this doesn’t apply to you. Odds are, you know someone who is autistic, even if they may not even know it themselves, or you will know someone who is autistic.

The more you educate yourself the right way, the better off you will be in the future, and the more you will be helping your loved ones around you.