Corin Barsily Goodwin http://giftedhomeschoolers.org Mika Gustavson MFT http://www.mika-mft.com/ Editors’ note: “Gifted” — meaning a person of substantially above-average intellectual or cognitive abilities — has various meanings and implications across the English-speaking world. In the US, education is publicly funded and provided from kindergarten (approximately age 5) through 12th grade (approximately age 18). There have been various federal and state programs and mandates addressing the educational needs of “gifted and talented” children in public school, which have generated various definitions and dividing lines. One of the central concepts in the English-speaking world about “giftedness” in children is “asynchronous development” — the child is in some domains developing in a range of normal for his or her age; and in other domains, is far ahead of same-age peers. A key concept in “giftedness” is exceptionality — the child who is gifted is rare — “one in a hundred thousand” or “one in…
Month: February 2011
Lynne Soraya www.psychologytoday.com/blog/aspergers-diary Presuppositions. We all know what they are — but what part do they play in our interactions? Any member of a minority group will tell you stories in which they felt that they have been unfairly stereotyped – in which the other person made a presupposition about their character dependent on certain criteria – be it age, gender, race, or some other factor. These are obvious cases of presuppositions impacting our social interaction. But are there situations in which presuppositions more subtly impact interactions? If you reach out to touch someone, and they jerk away, do you make a presupposition as to what that means? If someone is habitually quiet, do you make presuppositions regarding their intelligence or competence? As I have learned about autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, I have learned to question certain aspects of my experience. Things that I accepted as “normal,” because I experienced…
Sharon daVanport is the executive director of the Autism Women’s Network and the host of the AWN Radio Show. She’s a mom to four children — one of whom has Asperger’s — and she is a tireless advocate for women and children, particularly those whose lives have been touched by domestic violence. She is also an adult who has Asperger’s Syndrome. TPGA contributor and BlogHer contributing editor Mir Kamin was lucky enough to spend some time chatting with Sharon for Autism Awareness Month. Can you tell me about how/when you were diagnosed with Asperger’s? I always like to remind people that even though I was diagnosed as an adult, it didn’t mean I became autistic as an adult. But it explains so much, everything really, so well, now that I know. My 17-year-old son was diagnosed with Asperger’s in kindergarten. His therapist later said she knew about me right from…
Rupert Isaacson www.horseboymovie.com horseboyfoundation.org Rupert Isaacson and Kristin Neff were in crisis after their son Rowan was diagnosed with autism, because for Rowan autism meant constant distress, tantrums, and social isolation. His parents sought out the best help and therapies, but little helped ease Rowan’s dysfunctional autism symptoms until the family stumbled upon Rowan’s connection to horses and shamans, which then drew the three of them to Mongolia for “an epic quest for healing.” The Horse Boy is not just different from other autism books — in its depiction of a family who accepts their child for who he is while refusing to stop until they heal that which is causing his misery, it is unique. I was very inspired by The Horse Boy, by the fact that you sought out your son with autism’s strengths and interests and affinities in horses, in shamans — and did your utmost to…
Jennifer Byde Myers www.jennyalice.com Jack is asleep in my bed right now. He wandered in while I was folding clothes; I pulled back the covers and asked if he wanted to snuggle. He’s non-verbal, but he made a happy sound I know to be yes, and from across the room he leapt in, buried his head under the pillows, and fell back asleep as I returned to my unmatched socks. It’s hard to believe that he’s the same boy who as a three-year-old didn’t sleep for 52 days. Fifty-Two days where he didn’t rest longer than twenty-thirty minutes in a row and no more than one to two hours in a 24-hour period. Back then he would scream and thrash the entire time between passing out. It’s an example — the worst one — of what we call “episodes,” what appeared to be pain from unknown source, and it happened…