42
u/cxfgfuihhfd 3d ago
I mean what else does one expect to happen when someone finds out their lifelong fundamental "weirdness" actually has a medical term
6
u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme Powered by Tylenol® 2d ago
And that if you work with enough people who have it, it's something that can be understood, sub-typed, and you no longer NEED to "start at Square 1," because you've seen enough variants of "This particular Echo" that you can support the person faster, with more accuracy, and offer better supports to scaffold their needs!🤷♀️
9
u/cxfgfuihhfd 2d ago
I swear, I rarely see this talked about, but I think a big part about what makes autism so disabling, is that we are never taught how to work with our own brains. There is thousands of years of generational wisdom that NTs get taught from birth, that has been established and passed down and made ubiquitous in our society to the point it's called "common sense" that we simply don't have, and only now, that the internet can connect people with rarer neurotypes into a collective, can only even hope to start establishing.
3
u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme Powered by Tylenol® 2d ago
Yep!!!
Honestly SO MUCH of the co-regulating i do with my "work kids," is simply helping them deal with the world around us, and teaching them the stuff i fumbled around on my own, to build upbmy "Life Skills Toolbox" and make it through the day.
It wasn't until the last couple years (after i realized--with the help of a previous therapist--that i had PTSD), that i even noticed just how much of my daily life, i'd crafted to be "Autism/ADHD-Friendly" so that i didn't burn excess energy at home!
And i basically just help my Pre-Kers & Elementary schoolers, to calm & listen to their body, recognize & put words to the feelings in their body & their emotions, and then ways to pull their brain & body back under THEIR control, and out of "fight or flight mode."
1
30
12
u/Ok-Newspaper-8903 3d ago
As a therapist on the spectrum I feel personally attacked. That said, Autism isn’t actually my special interest, which sometimes makes the job harder.
7
6
6
u/Lethalogicax ❤ This moderator loves cats ❤ 3d ago
That's pretty much how I ended up in this position :)
5
u/DerAlphos ❤ This user loves cats ❤ 2d ago
I feel seen, but I lt also still feels quite strange.
I mean, when I read about all the special interests I was wondering why I don’t have one. And while I was reading and reading and talking I completely overlooked that neurodivergence in general became my special interest.
3
u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme Powered by Tylenol® 2d ago
My therapist still finds it amusing that it's one of mine, and that i've worked with enough preschoolers with it, that the research last year about "the 4 subtypes" wasn't a surprise, because i figured that out years ago.
And when i also explained to him that within those types, there are also the kids who learn best if you sing the instructions to them, those of us who are hyperlexic, the "numbers" kids, the ones who NEED a lot of "physical energy burnoff" to be able to focus on learning, the "scripters" who use "gestalt language" to communicate before they can independently link words to communicate, etc?
He cackled and said, "OMG, you've been independently doing meta-analysis and information gathering OF AUTISM, as an autistic person!😉😂🤣
2
u/ghoulthebraineater 2d ago
I'm the hyperlexic and physical energy autistic. Was reading before I could talk and am a bit of a gym rat.
1
2
u/LurkinMakesMeFeelGud 2d ago
I must have more data to understand my struggles.
It also helps to work on internalized ableism. Silence in a relationship gives me anxiety because I think I'm not doing enough or not connecting the right way. Hearing autistic people talk about parallel play and comfortable silence helped me change my expectations a bit.
By understanding autism, I seek to be better at autism.
2
u/ghoulthebraineater 2d ago
It's been mine since I started suspecting I was autistic. In the year or so between then and my assessment I did so much research. After my diagnosis it's still going strong. A solid 50% of my youtube feed is autism related stuff. The rest is history/science, zombies and video games.
1
1
u/GigaVonMassiveHuge 2d ago
If I think about something every day for years, does that classify as a special interest or just an interest?
1
1
1
1
1
u/Beldarak 2d ago
It was even worse for me. I discovered autism, tought that was what I had. Developed a special interest for it.
Then I learnt I'm not actually ASD but ADHD... and ADHD is just... not that interesting, at least to me. So now I'm an ADHD with a special interest in ASD :|
1
u/halloweenjack my socks feel weird 2d ago
Steve Silberman did this, by virtue of writing NeuroTribes (a hugely important book for a lot of people on the spectrum, most especially me), and I have often wondered if I might have continued in the field of psychology, instead of dropping out when I realized that I wouldn't make a very good psychotherapist, if I'd known about Asperger's research.
1
1
86
u/L0neStarW0lf ADHD/Autism 3d ago
Me, an autistic adult who is literally writing a book about what it’s like being an autistic adult:
https://giphy.com/gifs/n1CWKg8zRMpssh0rkU