Vivi

“The illustrations that started it all.

I would draw these slightly differently now.

The main difference would be highlighting the value of coregulation. Independent regulation is all well and good but it doesn't work for me. I usually need someone to help.

And that's ok.

You know?

Em 🌈”

Credit to Spectrum Sloth

Love this, had to share

Thank you Em at NeuroWild

“⭐️ New Resource ⭐️

This has taken me a good minute to put together.

It’s pretty long as is, and it still doesn’t cover everything I want to say.

So let’s just call it a starting point. Because no kid wants to sit through more than 15 pages.

This one is for parents/adults to use when talking to their non-autistic kids about their autistic sibling.

I recommend using each page to open up a discussion.

Invite your kid to ask questions or share their thoughts. Make it relevant to them. Let them know that curiosity is important.

If every page isn’t useful to your family, print the whole thing and throw the irrelevant pages out.

This resource cannot possibly suit every family in the world.

Still, I hope it’s useful to a lot of you.

Let me know what you think.

You can get it as a digital download on TPT:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/When-Someone-In-Your-House-Is-Autistic-15-page-illustrated-resource-11362768?st=ff061668d373c66979dbe86eab0a77d9

Em 🌈”

Thank you to Em at NeuroWild

“Let’s talk ‘size of the problem’.

This is something a speech therapist might work on with a kid. Potentially it might also be picked up by a psychologist, OT, teacher, or other adult.

Generally, this goal is given to neurodivergent kids to try and minimise their emotional responses to ‘small problems’. In other words, adults want our ND kids to stop ‘getting upset’ over ‘trivial’ things.

Here’s the thing though- what is small for some people is not small for everyone else.

We don’t choose our emotions.

We respond to problems and situations with whatever processing system and mental capacity we have at the time.

We do the best that we can.

Our ND kids might react more intensely to something like spilling a drink than their neurotypical peers. That doesn’t make their response wrong. It simply reflects the varied human experience.

It’s important to remember that a big emotional response is often due to an accumulation of stressors, increasing dysregulation, and depletion of mental energy. It’s actually not about the problem that just occurred- that was just the breaking point. It’s about all those other things.

Anyway.

I hope these images make sense.

I know they’re wordy.

If anyone could write up image descriptions I will attach them.

Otherwise, I’d like to know your thoughts on this.

Em 🌈”

Thank you Em from NeuroWild

“There's no one way to be Autistic.

You won't find two Autistic people the same, just as you won't find two neurotypical people the same.

Do many of us have similarities? Yep.

And just as many of us have countless differences.

Rather than thinking 'you can't be Autistic because you are so different to the Autistic person in my life', it would be great if you thought 'huh. I did not know that Autistic people could be like that. I guess my perception of Autism has been quite narrow.'

What an amazing shift that would be.

Let's wish it.

Yes?

Em 😊”

“As a teacher and someone who has worked with autistic children for many years, I am often asked about the early signs that a child may be autistic. It’s important to note that these do not apply to everyone! As autistic people, we do things OUR way and no textbook or guidance can write that. 🙂

I knew one of my children was autistic from pregnancy… ☺️ hypersensitivity to sound as a bump! But for some people it may help to read through these indicators.”