How common is it for #Autism to run in families? #AskingAutistic Are there #AutisticParent #AutisticParents groups? It could be that I’m just overwhelmed navigating the healthcare jungles between my #ADHD #ODD kids, chronic self & recently adding an in-law w/cancer/stroke on top of it all, but I am swimming in Symptom Soup and dunking in Diagnostic Punch trying to be an advocate for all of us so we can get the support/meds/tools/coverage we need. It’s just. fuck. It’s a lot.

Took our ND daughter to her school’s Breakfast with Santa. It was only an hour and the second group that morning but it knocked her and me out with the crowds and nose. I felt like I was walking in a space between spaces. But she had a good time for a bit with her best friend who is also ND. Wish the schools would have a special controlled environment for us but they’re all about inclusion 🙄

Anyway, we recovered at home and back to regulation autie 😜

@actuallyautistic #AutisticParents

Another piece of crap that still won’t escape me. It was all around me, inflicted on me, through childhood. As an adult parents and society try to get me to join their tribe and do it.

No fucking way. I can’t control the world but I can control myself and make sure my kids don’t suffer like I did or, at least, make a safe space for them from the world that tries to do it.

#parenting #AutisticParents #actuallyautistic #anarchy #buddhism #fucksociety

@actuallyautistic
#AutisticParents

This morning I found out that my younger daughter's new teacher got angry with her for doodling in her math workbook. Then the entire class joined the rest of the school to watch the soccer game on the big tv.

Uh...

The way our school is structured, there are about 250-300 students total, k through 6. My daughter is in 6. Grades 1-3 are in blended classes, as are 4-6. After k each student is assigned a class based on the needs of the student, and friends are kept together when possible. The students have the same teacher for three years, then move to the second tier and have a new teacher and classmates for the next three. There are no tests, no grades. Each class is about 15-20 kids.

M's teacher, who has known M since kindergarten and taught her since fourth grade, left over the summer. A new teacher took over. At first we were fine with it, since the new teacher is also ND and familiar with the alternative school concept.

Recently we found out she's been giving the kids tests. Okay, not great, but she isn't keeping a record of the marks so I guess we can work with that. Now we find out she is ignoring M's IEP, which states that she works better when she can fidget/doodle/stand/bounce, PLUS she took our autistic child into a huge, echoing room filled with 250 screaming children to watch and cheer for a game that doesn't even interest her, no headphones, then wouldn't let her leave.

We're going to have to have a conflict, aren't we? My French isn't good enough for a conflict (oh yeah, this is Quebec and she doesn't speak English) and my nature *definitely* isn't confrontational. How am I going to do this?! My spouse is away on business.

Let's try this!

Quiet salute to my fellow #AutisticParents

I myself am an undiluted, late diagnosed autistic mom to one AuDHD 11 year old who is absolutely infamous in her little school and one 13 year old social butterfly with a pacemaker. I suspect the 13 year old is ADHD, inattentive. My spouse is undiagnosed, but I would be very surprised if he weren't Autistic as well.

In some ways it's good that my youngest has us around to show her the strengths of her autistic traits, but *Oh my goodness* is it ever difficult to find the space I need when I'm nearing shutdown. Also when my children's stims conflict directly with my own, like my silence vs both daughters' need for lots of background action. Or balancing my touch aversion with their need for physical comfort.

So, that's me. What do you find especially challenging or rewarding as an autistic parent?

Okay, seeking suggestions for tween/teen appropriate books, graphic novels and webcomics for ND kids. Skilled readers. English or French.

The thing is I don't want the ND element to be front and center. Stuff with great story, great art if applicable, but please no "This is how Cindy Lou learned to accept her ND, with the power of NT friends who love her in spite of her obvious and stereotyped differences." It hurtsss us precious.

Plz

@actuallyautistic

#ActuallyAutistic
#AutisticParents

Okay, seeking suggestions for tween/teen appropriate books, graphic novels and webcomics for ND kids. Skilled readers. English or French.

The thing is I don't want the ND element to be front and center. Stuff with great story, great art if applicable, but please no "This is how Cindy Lou learned to accept her ND, with the power of NT friends who love her in spite of her obvious and stereotyped differences." It hurtsss us precious.

Plz

#ActuallyAutistic
#AutisticParents

Okay, seeking suggestions for tween/teen appropriate books, graphic novels and webcomics for ND kids. Skilled readers. English or French.

The thing is I don't want the ND element to be front and center. Stuff with great story, great art if applicable, but please no "This is how Cindy Lou learned to accept her ND, with the power of NT friends who love her in spite of her obvious and stereotyped differences." It hurtsss us precious.

Plz

#actuallyautistic
#AutisticParents

@BreezieLT I’m wondwr how many other #ActuallyAutistic parents of #AutisticChildren there are on here?

My kids are struggling, even with their relationship with me. I didn’t expect that at all. I thought because we are all Autistic we would understand each other and there’d be no teenage problems. I was wrong. 😑

#AutisticParents #SchoolTrauma @ActuallyAutistic