how can i explain autism

Kimberly - posted on 04/27/2010

I used to explain it this way:

You give a child a set of instructions...like get your shoes, socks and coat

Child goes to get them and puts them on and is ready to go.

Give a child with Autsim the same instructions, the information goes in their ears and goes around 90 mph and they might come back with any one of the items.

Send them back again, they might have discarded one of the items for another



Parenting a child with disabilities is hard, frustrating and angering...but with patience, you get a rare glimpse into a whole new world through very special eyes

Lisa - posted on 04/26/2010

No better way to explain :)

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Sheila - posted on 04/26/2010

A person once said to me that your brain is like a filing cabinet. For most individuals, we can easily access the files we need to proceed through our day.

For an individual with autism, somebody came alone and tipped over the filing cabinet. All the necessary information is there, it is just really really hard to find. With therapy and intervention, the filing cabinet begins to get straightened out....and certain files become easier and easier to find.

Or, if you want to be technical, autism is a neurological disorder that impacts the development of behavioural, social, and communication skills. It's impact can be felt in all aspects of a person's development, sigifnicantly through the ability to process and respond to the information overload that accompanies daily life.

Sheila

Nori - posted on 04/26/2010

Depends on what you are trying to explain about and to whom. The following are some explanations I have used in different situations.



To explain sensory overload issues I ask for the person to imagine having headphones on with music they didn't care for playing at a moderate level, unable to adjust volume, change music, or remove them. Wearing these headphones throughout their day, week, month, at school, work, church, etc...



When trying to find a photographer I ask them to imagine trying to bring a butterfly into their studio and ask it to sit on a stool. (found this online)



When explaining to children I simply tell them that it is like my grandson does not speak english or give them example of body language meaning different things in different countries, such as bowing or how some people use their hands alot when they talk.



Hope this helps