April is Autism Awareness Month

April is autism awareness month. Children with autism are usually highly intelligent, and can be over-whelmed by sensory stimulates such as sight, sound, touch, smell, and so forth. Many times people do not realize they are addressing a person with autism, but if you know the non-verbal communicators such as lack of eye-contact, you can adjust to your audience.

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION

• People with autism translate your words literally, so avoid metaphors, or figures of speech such as “save your breathe.”

• Sometimes if you touch a person with autism, even accidentally, it can upset them.

• While the person may be listening to you, they might not be looking at you. People with autism are usually aware of their surroundings; they just do not always react in a predictable manner.

• People with autism have a difficult time understanding your intent, or understanding the world from your point of view.

One bunny of working with children who have autism is they are incredibly creative. Because they do not always understand “common sense,” they try the universe, and are an inspiration to me both personally and professionally.

  Temple Grandin is a woman with a fabulous mother.  Kisses to her!  Temple revolutionized the meat packing industry, thus impacting everyone of our lives with her visionary engineering capabilities.

The biographical movie Temple Grandin, a HBO special starring the talented Clare Danes, is a universal must see, and not just in my opinion as it won seven Emmy Awards, evidence of how important autism awareness really is, and it’s impact on society. Ignorance hurts.

CSR