Living with Autism

The amazing Temple Grandin was in Dublin this week for an Autism Conference.

Her TedTalk bio describes her as:  "diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works -- sharing her ability to "think in pictures," which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids"

Temple Grandin has an an enormous impact on global thinking about autism and the potential of autistic thinkers to contribute to society. But her greatest gift to parents is helping us understand the how and why that our children see the world and act the way they do. It helps me to empathise with my children's autism and see the same tendencies to be visual and spatial myself.

Her book "Thinking in Pictures" describes how she is able to build entire visual systems in her mind. She can envisage somethin…

Meet Sean Mulligan


Well, this is his "insides" - Click on it to make it bigger and you will see a pretty accurate representation of what goes on inside our bodies.

Sean is one of the 1 in 88 people who have been diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

Autism is a sensory disability that can affect everything a person sees, hears, touches, tastes, smells and feels, including their motor planning and sense of balance.

While a large number of people with autism will be non-verbal, it does not necessarily affect intelligence so you should never presume that a person with autism does not understand you.

What you can presume is that whatever level of competence they are able to demonstrate, they probably had to work twice as hard as anyone else to achieve it. Holding a pencil, walking in a straight line, keeping their arms still when they are happy, even looking you in the eye can take a tremendous effort and life can be quite stressful, however "normal" they may be tryi…

Recently I was back in my hometown of Ballarat to do a series of Grace App workshops. These were in aid of www.turnalifearound.com.au - a charity run by a Bendigo school teacher called Jacqui Righetti who was inspired to fundraise to help Autistic people to communicate. She collects old iPod Touch (3/4th Gen)  iPads and iPhone 3Gs, 4 and 4s and raises money to buy new devices for families who do not otherwise qualify for government funding. If you can help please visit www.turnalifearound.com.au and contact Jacqui.

Part of drumming up some publicity for the cause was making contact with the local media who covered it here in the Bendigo Advertiser and on ABC Radio Ballarat's Steve Martin show, And in the newspaper I grew up with: The Ballarat Courier.

They took a different spin, asking me to contribute to the "Catch Up With" section as a former resident. My sister gleefully tweeted the resulting article last weekend with yet another "what was I thinking?" phot…

While I realise that the above title may have lead you to think that this was a post about another kind of "diversity" - the  "It Gets Better" I'm talking about is my journey with Autism and my teenage son, and how it has got a whole lot better.

How did we do it? While it would be tempting to give credit to one thing (and then write a best selling book about it)  it is best to remember the science and take into account that:

Correlation does not imply causationI did not do one thing at a time, I did not run a placebo group and I had a number of variables over which I had no control. We did change 3 things which together seem to have worked.
 *knocks on wood*
1. Environment: 

As I have previously described, we got Liam's bed out of the open attic space and into a big room with a door that can be locked. He has his computer, an old tv and a vcr in there and his video collection. He can do all the things a teen needs to do including play with his iPad, iPhone a…

A first draft of this post appeared as a "Column" in Irish Online publication "The Journal.ie" yesterday. It was written in response to a small furore that has been going on in Ireland about negative comments appearing on Twitter and Facebook (read ithere)

While I am as appalled as anyone by someone deciding to harm themselves as a result of online bullying - I think there is a huge difference between harassing a private individual through a forum that is actively used by their peers; and making fun of a politician.

Coming from Australia - where the greatest gift of one of my favouriteex-Prime Ministerswas to eloquently insult the opposition in the parliamentary chamber; I guess I think that politicians need to toughen up.

But insidious online bullying of an individual by their peers, that I object to. However, rather than scaring the hell out of people, let me demonstrate how the Big Bad Social Media Wolf - can actually support us through mental strife, if we are pre…

In the past, this blog has featured a few stories on how not to do christmas when you have an Autistic Family. After 2007 and 2009 we eventually we learned to go our own way. We buy nice food, a lot of wine and plan our day around our kids. Presents that they have specifically requested arrive in a neutral space. In Liam's case they are snatched out of the stockings and brought upstairs to be watched. For Grace, it can take up to a week for the "new" to be absorbed into her existing collection, a bit like when you have to leave a goldfish in his bag inside a new tank until the temperature evens out. By the time of writing, one Sesame Street Story Book has made it upstairs into her bedroom. The remaining 4 are still in the kitchen, acclimatising. Only one has the celophane unwrapped.

Everything about our day, like our lives is arranged around what makes our kids happy and comfortable. No forced traditions, no expectations, no disappointments.

The only problem is you can …

I've been meaning to write about my son’s current phase of behaviour for quite a while. But I guess I was waiting until the storm had passed, that we had found a way to resolve it, and I could write an uplifting post full of practical advice and solutions.

But something else has prompted me to come clean and talk about what we are going through. I had a conversation with someone yesterday where I was asked what I thought of an event on the weekend, and in a moment of weakness I answered:

"To Be Honest, for us it was as much about the night off in a hotel, our son has been very difficult lately and we needed the respite.

and this person reprimanded me firmly saying "Oh I would never typify my son in that language"

I was shocked, and replied "I'm not being negative about my son, but he can be so challenging at times and it is exhausting.

She went on to say something about knowing its hard, but it is hard for all of us and not to think of myself as a victim. (I…