Warning: Mini rant ahead...
FILL UP THE DAILY "DEAD TIME"
<snip>
2. Dead time is sitting in a car going from one place to another. Typical children will look around, look out the window, comment on what’s seen, or just chat. Your ASD child will just sit, absorbing nothing of value - Your ASD child is in "dead-time".
Oh, and shw knows this how, exactly? who the f**k is she to say what is/is not something of value.
3. <snip> absorbing the new elements of a different environment. Your ASD child is in "dead-time".
So absorbing the elemnts of your environment is not something of value?
Nuff said. The woman who wrote that was a selfish idiot.
I wince when I see videos of parents badgering their autistic kids all the time "to try to draw them out". Ever vigilant, they spot little Johnny over swinging by himself, enjoying some quiet time away from a rabble of loud animated children. So the parent immediately "rescues" Johnny from his "prison" by dragging him over and forcing him to be in the middle of the other kids. Instead of Johnny having any peaceful ordinary time, the parents keep barking orders at him "look at me" "look up", "look at me". I saw one set of parents who said how exhausting it was to devote the entire day to the kid's various therapies (cures) and stimulating lessons and how financially drained they were providing what the child "needed". At that point they gestured, indicating the surrounding large room which was stacked with hundreds of bright toys of every description against every wall in large jumbled heaps.
I wanted to say to them: Can't you see the kid is over stimulated by too much input? Instead of being in his face every moment, why not allow the kid some quiet time (something NT children get too). Perhaps then the poor kid wouldn't be melting down so much.
Wow!!! I think this sounds like torture. If everytime I was interested in something and someone came up and forced me to do something else I would go mad!!! Not to mention the , "TALK TALK TALK" theory. My daughter has only just started to talk this past year (she is 4.5) but I have always let her be quiet if she needs quiet. The more I read here the more I feel I am doing the right thing by requesting that she not be put in an ABA class.
It is amazing how educators do not want to see her as an individual who has her own wants and needs even though she does not always express them verbally.
wow, that's crazy, i'd lose my mind if somebody bugged me all the time, why are these articles written by people who haven't got any clue what they are talking about?
for me the time i spend on the bus on my way to and from college is the best time, especially if there is nobody talking to me, that way i can just think about random things and observe things outside for a half an hour without being disturbed.
i think that every autistic/aspie child (and adult) should be left alone if he doesn't show signs of wanting extra attention and company, forcing a disturbance onto him will certainly not "heal" his condition
. It helped me a lot to calm down and think. Is this the case for Auties/Aspies then? Do we like movement from swings, etc to calm us and help us to imagine and dream?
It's like rocking
If the author of the above ABA article is reading this thread, PLEASE rethink this siege mentality you think you need to bring to your work with autistic children. How long could YOU endure being talked at every waking moment and never being allowed a private moment to think?!
An excellent point. The author should be given a taste of what that would be like to experience. The word "siege" is also fitting.
OOOOOoooooohhhh that article makes me angry. Don't people understand that just because we aren't interacting doesn't mean we aren't stimulated and our minds aren't racing away inside our heads.
A 'normal' kid might be chattering away to their mum about meaningless trivial things ('oh, that's a pretty dress', 'that lady has a blue bag' etc.) their brain not really being excersised much. The AS kid could very well be conducting a detailed analysis of the tesselation, symmetry and repeat pattern of the floor tiles, whilst they sit silently.
Who's brain is more stimulated and performing more complex tasks? Which child is learning more?
I know what I think....
LOL She's trying to replace whatever she's as the "problem" with her child's condition wth something a lot worse.
"Hey, I know how I can fix this kid! TORTURE THEM! People are sooo much better after they've been tortured."
Describing such techniques as torture seems about right to me. Applying that thought process to her is highly satisfactory- Introduce her into a ASD community, and have her 'treated' for her conditions of seeking eye contact, babbling incessantly, gossiping, trying to involve those around her in whatever she is doing. I think physical punishment, such as slapping the hell out of her would be fitting.
I know if I was treated the way she recommends, I would start to feel quite loopy quite quickly- the comparison to sleep deprivation (couldbecousin) is apt.