Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com These iPads have been around for almost three years now, which is rather mind-boggling. Even though tablets no longer attract sideshow-level reactions with every mention, they are still wonderful tools for many autistic kids and adults, and exciting new approaches and apps keep emerging. I teach autism and iPads workshops […]
Why did Amy Lutz publicly attack disabled people for the crime of appearing less disabled than her own child? Especially the very advocates who are fighting to ensure a better future for all autistic people—including her son?
Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com Honestly, I don’t give a fig about strangers judging how I parent my autistic son. I know I’m doing my best with all three of my kids, and am also constantly learning from my mistakes. Plus Leo has the same right to be in public as anyone, as long as
2012 was an eventful year at Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism: Our book drew much acclaim, three new editors joined our team, we featured more than 30 profiles of Autistic kids and adults for April’s Slice of Life series, we went to the International Meeting for Autism Research in Toronto, our Facebook community hit and
Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com www.blogher.com Sometimes I think social skills apps are redundant, since iPads are themselves such social magnets. These tablets can motivate people of all abilities to interact, and give them a common ground for communicating. But as social skills are multi-faceted, and since different folks need support in specific areas, I
Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com Most parents fret about their kids’ hygiene and how it is affected by factors like circumcision, tooth brushing, or toilet training. Said fretting escalates when the kids in question have a disability, but hygiene doesn’t have to be the skunk cabbage in the parenting bouquet — not if parents do
Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com Sometimes I think I like sameness more than my son does. That’s why a persistent hindrance to increased independence for autistic kids like my son Leo is parents like me overlooking opportunities for self-care and competence. Sometimes this happens because we find it quicker and easier to take care of
Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com Parallel exploration is a very reasonable and comforting way to socialize We’re not a family that stays home. We’re a family of excursioners. Still, there are places my eleven-year-old son adores yet which we avoid completely, because our usual techniques of “go early or go off season” can’t
Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com What I want people to know—and why I write—about parenting my autistic son Photo © Jonathan Mandel [image: A white mother with orange hair holds a toddler on her hip while standing with a young child, as a third child emerges, smiling, from a school bus.] When I realized
Our society needs to more honest about parenting realities, needs to better prepare parents-to-be how to accept, support, and respect children with autism and other disabilities.
