Review : Atypical

I saw the trailer for this Netflix show quite awhile ago, and of course, it looked interesting.

I finally got around to actually watching this and it is very good. It has the right amount of family drama to keep one interested. But the main focus and the reason for writing this post is that this is also a very ASD positive series.  This story is told from the point of view of a teenager named Sam who is high functioning. It's interesting and nice to see how he struggles with the same issues that other teens deal with and how he copes and learns with help of his family and friends. I have watched at least 5 episodes and I have been binging the rest of this series soon. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in the spectrum or knows someone...or maybe those who want to understand what it's like for someone in the spectrum. 

More People In the Spectrum Than We Know?

So I have talked to quite a few people, and have noticed some people who seem to fit certain traits linked to Autism Spectrum. So I was thinking that there are probably more people in the Spectrum than what is being reported. I think some people may have small or minute Autism traits so perhaps they pass for the norm or average person. I also wonder if there is some under reporting in the number of children diagnosed because of this same idea. This is just an idea I have and have no actual proof to back it up, but if you suspect that you may also be in the spectrum, or someone you know might be....perhaps this test may help shed some light on what you are suspecting - Autism Test for Adults. It is a very short test. Below I have included two books that may help.

Movies About Autism

No this is not a review, but just a listing of some films that are about Autism. Some are dramas, and some are documentaries, but all are worthy of being mentioned here. I figured I would make a listing, because let's face it there just is not too many mentions of this subject on the internet.

Here is an article I had written for Squidoo about a few Autism films. All of the films that I am mentioning are available through Netflix in their streaming section. Sounding the Alarm is a fairly newer one that is a documentary, and focuses on AutismSpeaks, and how they are trying to raise awareness. This seems to be only available on Netflix. It was a quick one, as it was only an hour long.

Another and final documentary I will mention is The United States of Autism, which is a movie that a Dad who won a contest sponsored by Pepsi. He wanted to show how different people within the spectrum are and how it is all over the nation.

I just watched another Autism documentary last night and decided to update this blog post to share another great film. It was called Autism in Love. This film showed a few different people who are in the spectrum and their attitudes about love. I highly enjoyed this because I could totally relate at times, and it helped to show how we all just want to be loved and accepted.

Weighted Blankets as Therapy

There are more than a few uses for weighted blankets, but we got one for our son, so that he would sleep more restfully. He has sensory processing disorder, and loves deep pressure, as it calms him.

Our son with his Angry Birds Weighted Blanket

I do not know for a fact if the benefits of using a weighted blanket are true for all conditions, but it is said that people with different forms of anxiety disorders can use this as a calming technique. Anyone of any age can also benefit from their use. Perhaps you suffer from insomnia, restless leg syndrome or ADD?

They are made according to the users height and weight, so that the blanket will be more effective for that individual.  If the person enjoys the feeling of tight clothing or being swaddled up in blankets then this is the perfect item for them.

Sensory Seeking Kiddos : Crash Pad

Some children in the Autism Spectrum avoid sensory, and others crave it, and seek it out. Our son is one who seeks out sensory experiences, and we got him a crash pad; so that he can crash safely into it, and not get hurt. But it has other uses, such as the whole family can play on it, or it can be a comfortable lounger.

Speech Therapy Videos or Learning Language

One of the areas that our son was delayed in was speech. He just didn't babble like other babies. I mean he seemed to understand us, but he wasn't making any sounds. So we decided to find some aids to help him discover sound. One example were -

Baby Babble DVD's 

 

These were great because they focused on the basics of phonetic sounds. They would do a letter and show an object that a baby should be familiar with and emphasize the sound. We used to play these over and over again. I sometimes wonder if things like this are why he is kind of focused on letters, and now words. But I think they really helped with his early speech development, and are something that even a normal/typical baby could benefit from.

Another set of videos that are beneficial to babies and toddlers are -

Baby Signing Time

These can be good for children who may have difficulty in speaking or are just not ready to. Plus they can learn basic american sign language. Something for parents and baby to watch together. 

Also something that our son first used before he could fully talk was something that one of his aids suggested.

PECS ( Picture Exchange System)

These are basically small pictures that a child can either choose from a sampling of activites or items that they do not have the words to express. When our son wanted something it was easy for him to hand us the little picture of a cup of milk than pointing in a vague way and us not knowing just what he wanted.

 

I hope that all of these suggestions may help your child transition into speaking or at least making it easier for them to communicate with you. 

Introduction to me and my blog

I don't know whether it had to do with the fact that in the womb my son yanked, and pulled at his umbilical cord or the few minutes that he was blue at his birth; but my son was delayed.  We didn't notice anything major until he missed milestones that other babies were making such, as crawling, and babbling, etc.  We tried doing research online, and found something called Early Intervention . We soon set up and appointment to have them evaluate our son, and he started to get services to help him catch up a little to where he should be before starting pre-school. I do remember a couple of the aids that came to our home had mentioned that they thought he was very smart child, but they thought that he was Autistic in his behaviours.  We got a recommendation from one of these aids to get him diagnosed by a Behavioural Pediatrician in our area.  Upon going to this appointment we discovered that our child was diagnosed as having PDD-NoS( Pervasive Developmental Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified); this basically meant that he had some of the symptoms and behaviours of a child in the Autism Spectrum, but still seemed like a typical child. We found a book about this diagnosis here -   this was one of the best books that we had come across while doing research about it. I rated this book 5 stars on goodreads.com It answered a lot of questions that we had and gave us some hope for our son.

The main reason I wanted to write this blog was so that others who may be experiencing the same thing have a resource of their own; and so that I can share with others just what it is like so that maybe people can feel some compassion for children in the Autism Spectrum.