Ok, so I'm sorry once again... I did a search and nothing good came up. I'm POSITIVE people have asked this before, but:
I did all my own research when I suspected my son was autistic at 18 months. At 22 months the school just gave me "speech delay" but I wasn't convinced. Yesterday, at 31 months, or 2 and 1/2, the pediatric neurologist told us autism, at the high functioning end. My husband told his family and his sisters are asking us tons of questions. I admit to knowing a lot through research, but not enough to EXPLAIN to somebody who is clueless on the topic. Any ideas on how to help them understand? (and also, they're wondering if they can do things to help; such as one sister is a firefighter and wanted to learn sign language anyway... she asked if it would help. My son only recently has been using signs and PECS, so HE doesn't even have a lot)....
Was just curious on people's point of views.... thanks
Christi
The best thing to quickly bring them up to speed, is to let them read the article "10 things every child with autism wishes you knew" by Ellen Notbohm (she also has an excellent book with the same title). Here's the link:
http://www.ellennotbohm.com/ten_things_article.html
Good luck with everything.
That is great that they are willing to learn and offered to help out!! Most people feel bad for you !!! I would start off by telling them a little about autism and how did he get the diagnosis for example u have to meet 6 criteria for u to get "autism" and not "PDD-NOS". This will show them his "deficits" as well. Also I strongly suggest you read "Let Me Hear Your Voice" by Catherine Maurice and "Overcoming Autism"... and give them copies as well. They are very uplifting stories that strongly recommend ABA for the "treatment" of autism and show a wide variety of emotions that families experience.Here's the direct link for the OASIS grandparents letter.
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/grandparents.html
I had never read it before, and liked it a lot. It was interesting the way she used the blindness metaphor, that the child is "mind-blind" so the parents can think of themselves as "seeing eye dogs" when out and about.
I'm lucky that my son's grandparents have never had a doubting or negative attitude, but I've heard comments from others in their generation, specifically from my son's preschool teacher who basically said she wouldn't let my son "get away with" the behavior she saw. She saw the behavior as being rough with his little brother on the preschool playground when we came to pick him up. I (correctly) saw the behavior as trying to protect his little brother from what he perceived to be a big scary social situation. I didn't enjoy feeling defensive around that teacher, and can hardly imagine how it would be to feel that way around my own parents or in-laws.
Thanks for telling us about the grandparent letter, snoopywoman.
If you go to the OASIS website (you'll have to google "Oasis Asperger's" - it's a LONG address) and they have a letter for grandparents there. It's a very well-done letter and you can adapt it to your needs.
hi
im sorry i disagree
i think slow and steady is the way to go
sign language is not very good with children with asd
and is mosley used has a last esort for communication
makaton is used more nowadays rather tan british sign language and its very confusung for anormal child with problems let alone a child with asd
pecs is the way to go
i have some info and some downloadable pecs if you would like to see them on my group
i will unlock it you wont have to join then just have a look round and see if theres any ideas for you, you can have a peek
shell
Kristy just shared a nice little letter that she wrote up for her son with us...I think it's under the heading explaining our kids to people...I don't know how to add threads like that, sorry. But it was a nice little letter written from the child's point of view...it might have a lot of good ideas in there to help explain what your ds is going through.
Good luck with everything!
We taught the very basic signs when they were 2, eat, more, things like that. We taught maybe 5 of them. Then they started school and that teacher went overboard on the sign language and started teaching them the alphabet. Couldn't figure that one out, they couldn't read so what was the point of that, but then Nikolas started moving his hands like that everytime he talked and before we knew it he was talking to his hands but he was not using it to communicate, it became a stim, so I wanted all sign language stopped. I think PECS would have been much better. There seems to be a difference of opinions on PECS, I know it has been mentioned on here that if you are going to do PECS then you should get the formal book and use the universal pictures, but their ABA therapist (who is certified) thought the universal pictures were to vague for children as young as the boys and I probably didn't need to go the whole formal book route, I should use the digital camera or tear labels off of things, that that would be better, they would have a better understanding of what the picture represented, and would help Andrew with the frustration of not being understood but not give him a crutch and an even further reason to not communicate, since the boys have words but would rather point than use their words he was a little concerned about using PECS. So I am going to work on that, but only for things he can't say, and then I am going to get him to attempt to say it even though he has the picture before I give it to him. This is just our case, yours might be different. I agree, the best support is just listening, understanding and not judging. When people ask I tell them autism means there are delays in speech and receptive language, social anxiety/failure to interact with peers appropriately, impairment in imaginative play and some degree of sensory disorder. Then if they want to know more I tell them how it effects my daughter specifically although there are varying degrees of severity on the spectrum. All the grandparents needed was to see my daughter have a meltdown over light touch, a hug or tickling, and to see how delayed her language was. The best support my family and friends have given to me is just listening and accepting.