Autistic Daily

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The Autism Alliance of MetroWest has developed a package to help school nurses interact with autistic children.

The packet includes special scripts the nurses can use to better communicate with students, as well as pictures to help children communicate their medical issues and letters that can be sent home to parents.

The packet contains tools for recognizing common maladies in school settings such as a stomach ache.

Like many professionals, school nurses aren’t always educated on or prepared to deal with the autistic child.

“When I was there, I was really blown away by how little they knew about it, and how eager they were to learn about autism,” said Nannette Ohman, executive director of Autism Alliance of MetroWest.

The packet sell for around $150 and can be purchased from the Autism Alliance of MetroWest at autismalliance.org or calling 508-652-9900.

via metrowestdailynews.com

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Most parents of children with autism would say it’s a no brainer they probably experience more stress than a parent raising a developmentally “normal” child.

But are there unique stresses associated with raising a child with autism in comparison to raising a child with another disability? Do all parents of disabled children experience equal amounts of stress?

Researchers at the University of Washington Autism Center investigated the lives of mothers with children across the disability spectrum-not just autism. They found parents in the autism group had higher levels of stress than parents with children with other disabilities.

“They had higher levels of stress, but the relationship of the stress to problem behavior was different,” said Annette Estes, associate director of the center.

“Problem behavior accounted for more of the stress in moms of children with development delays without autism. For parents of children with autism, even though problem behavior was significantly related to stress, there was more to the story that we did not uncover.”

Read more findings and the Q & A session with Estes at well.blogs.nytimes.com.

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manu contreras on Flickr

Opposingviews.com has revived an article originally published by Autism Asperger’s Digest in the July-August 2000 issue.

Are the top 10 tips for parenting an autistic child still relevant?

Certainly, reminders such as “taking care of your own emotional health first” is timeless, as any caregiver or counselor can vouch for.

“For parents to be effective in guiding the development of their child with autism, it is very important for them to work through their own emotional reactions. Both parents as individuals, and the marriage, will be affected by the child’s developmental challenges. Seek professional help as soon as you can, to ensure that you can give your best to your child.”

Our favorite would have to be #9, pertaining to nagging: “Wait! Don’t Repeat Instructions Over and Over Again”:

“Many children with autism have delays in response time. It takes longer for their brains to register an interaction and then decide how to respond. Learn to wait for your child’s response. Most parents—even parents of typical children—tend to repeat themselves, as if giving an instruction several times will get the child to do it quicker! If your child has a processing delay, as he is working through the instruction you gave him the first time, he gets interrupted by the second and third times you deliver the same instruction. He may get confused and shut down. For children with autism it is important to deliver an instruction and wait—as much as 30 seconds (which can feel like a lifetime!)—before delivering the same instruction.”

Indeed, this is advice the parent might want to practice on the child and the spouse!

Read the entire top ten list at opposingviews.com.

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