It can be easy – too easy—to assume that people on the spectrum prefer not to engage that much, if at all, with others. This is a very false assumption. Children and adults with autism want to connect and engage with others. They desire social relationships just as much as…
Middle school. A gigantic new environment – outside the boundaries of our school pyramid - so that he will get the support he needs to learn. Alarm sounding at 6am, getting dressed and out of the house to sit on a bus for 50 minutes. “Mr. Bonkin (bus driver) lets…
I hear him whisper-talking to himself as I pause by his bedroom door. It’s a couple of hours before school time and although I can’t see him, I know exactly what he’s doing as I listen intently to the soft sounds emanating from his room. “Yes, that’s okay. The We4…
Brady with a kind stranger dressed as Mario. Brady was so happy to meet Mario. "Can I go to your castle home?" “We have got to work on keeping these children engaged with the world.”– Temple Grandin on the importance of connecting autistic children with others and the world around themSurreptitiously,…
Brady was a fireman in 2017; after that Halloween, he became creative with his costume designs. “What are you going to be for Halloween this year, Brady?” his psychiatrist asks at the very end of his appointment on a mid-October day.He doesn’t answer. He’s squatted on the floor creating a…
