Managing Autism - A Personal View

Yesterday I attended an Autism Workshop with Donna Williams and I have to say it was fantastic.  Donna had many wonderful ideas and strategies on dealing with different aspects of autism, addressing issues and problems in a way that I had never really heard before.  Her thoughts and ideas were so practical and user friendly, to the point where I was able to come home and try out some new strategies straight away.

Donna talked about the ‘Fruit Salad Model’ of Autism.  She noted that whilst most people understand that every case of autism is different, people also need to realise that we can’t address or treat the difficulties of autism with a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

During the afternoon I took many notes (which I am now still making sense of, but will eventually be able to put into a format that is understandable) and really had my eyes opened to different ways of tackling problems.

Donna talked a lot about finding the right way to work with different personality types.  She explained that the degree of success you would have in working with a person with autism depended very much on whether you approached the person in a way that suited their personality.  I found this really interesting and immediately did a mental check on how I approached Jack (and instantly found ways where I might be able to improve in my approach).

I went to the workshop seeking help and ideas in an effort to try and improve what I did at home with Jack, and I definitely found some answers.  In fact more than just practical answers.

As any parent with a child who has autism would understand, it can be nightmarish facing the real world where there is often harsh judgement and a lack of understanding.  For myself, it is often an effort to ‘face the world’ and the safety of home is very comforting.  Donna made a statement very early on in her workshop, she said, “there are heaps of people like me - if I run away, what hope do they have?”  This statement gave me a wake up call.  It certainly won’t change what I face when I go out into the world with Jack (or make it any easier), but her words have at least given me a sense of needing to push on regardless.  One day Jack is going to have to face life without me, and I need to make sure I am modelling a sense of courage and worthiness to him - otherwise, what hope will he have?

Yesterday was an invaluable experience.  I think anything that helps us in our understanding of autism is a good thing!

PS - Donna’s website is worth having a look at!

Elissa

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 9:04 am and is filed under Parenting Autism, Resources, Reflections on Autism, Coping with Autism - Strategies, Autism Spectrum Disorder. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.