Autism is different for everyone who has been diagnosed with it. The Autism Spectrum is very wide and vast and includes so many different symptoms. It is such a neat condition that I have thoroughly enjoyed studying and watching first hand. As most of you know, my six year old Josiah has been diagnosed with HFA [high-functioning autism]. I had a really hard time with this at first, mostly because I felt like I was a bad mother for not catching onto it sooner, especially when friends and family around me came out and said they suspected something, just didn't know what to say or do. There is a lot of information I have been collecting and researching and I want to share in several different segments. Josiah is mostly affected in the area of social skills, so I would like to start there.
Social Skills affected by autism:
I would love to hear about any other social skills dilemmas in your world of autism and I would love to know how you deal with some of the above issues. I will say that a lot of the social skill issues that Josiah has, we have a book about. They are called social stories. Joy Berry is an author and has written close to 250 books about different social stories to help kids understand situations that are difficult for them. You can research her books little more here. I highly recommend her books and I will say that they have helped Josiah understand a lot of social situations.
In Part 2, coming soon, I hope to talk about emotional symptoms of autism.
Social Skills affected by autism:
- Difficulty answering questions about themselves or things they are not interested in.
- Difficulty creating and maintaining friendships, especially with kids their own age.
- Inability to understand most facial expressions and body language.
- Inability to understand most jokes, figures of speech or sarcasm.
- Difficulty understanding the rules of conversation, especially having a problem with interrupting.
- Tendency to make honest, but inappropriate observations about others.
- Tendency for easier socializing with people that are older or younger, rather than peers of their own age.
- Tendency to give spontaneous comments which seem to have no connection to the current conversation.
- Ability to make only little or no eye contact.
- Tendency for conversation to consist of excessively talking about one or two topics only.
- Tendency to be overly-friendly with strangers, asking personal questions at inappropriate times.
- Resistance to being held or touched.
- Inability to initiate most social interactions.
- Inability to regard or understand another’s feelings.
- Inability to recognize personal space and a tendency to get too close when speaking to someone.
- Lack of interest in what is going on around them.
I would love to hear about any other social skills dilemmas in your world of autism and I would love to know how you deal with some of the above issues. I will say that a lot of the social skill issues that Josiah has, we have a book about. They are called social stories. Joy Berry is an author and has written close to 250 books about different social stories to help kids understand situations that are difficult for them. You can research her books little more here. I highly recommend her books and I will say that they have helped Josiah understand a lot of social situations.
In Part 2, coming soon, I hope to talk about emotional symptoms of autism.
I've never looked it up, but sometimes I wonder when doctors began diagnosing autism. There are a couple of people in my life that I feel could be on the spectrum, but at the time of their childhood, doctors may not have known about autism, and therefore that person was just thought to be slow.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I am not sure exactly when diagnosing begins. I guess the more severe the autism is, the earlier it could be detected. Most autistic children I know have been diagnosed around ages 3-5. I think until the past 10-15 years not a lot has been known about autism and therefore a lot of people have been dismissed as slow, like you said. I think a lot more people are being diagnosed with it now than ever before. I think the last stats for autism were 1 in 90 girls will be diagnosed and 1 in 70 boys. I could be wrong, but aren't those number AMAZING??? Lots to think about!
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