Just wondered if some of you could help me please. My son has a dx of ASD. I agree that he has ASD or at the very least a social communication disorder with sensory issues (broadly the same thing under DM5).
We get great support from his school, the LA autism service (who are essentially specialist autism teachers who go into schools and advise them of little things that might assist to make his life easier) and a local charity support group run by specialists. I am grateful for these people and have no wish to offend them.
However, they all make sweeping statements about ds and autistic people in general which I know to be untrue. However, as I am not an "expert" my views are politely ignored. In particular, they say:
- people with ASD have no empathy - my DS has loads and he is only 4, he both understands how other people are feeling and expresses concern. This false belief is the one that angers me the most and shows the biggest lack of insight into ASD but it is peddled by the autism teachers at all the support groups;
- people with ASD have no imagination - my DS has loads, genuine imagination not repetitive play or re-enactment of play he has seen before (he makes up scenarios for his toys, invents names for them, imagines one object is a completely different one all the time - the problem is getting him to think about the real world). This false belief will I think curtail how people encourage him to learn. For example, I said to nursery teacher that he doesn't really build things with blocks - oh that will be lack of imagination she says - no its lack of fine motor skills. Now he understands how to use blocks he builds all sorts of weird and wonderful things.
- all people with ASD are visual thinkers - whilst I am sure lots of people are (Temple Grandin for example), I believe my DS is not. Nor is he a pattern-thinker. He is clearly a verbal thinker. He never shuts up, always talks through what he is doing, talks to himself at night about what is happening. I am a verbal thinker with a huge memory for facts that I have heard rather than seen (any idea where he might get some of this from). I don't think in pictures. DS' teacher with 25 years experience of autism is convinced he is a visual thinker and regularly states this, she has photos up everywhere (the photos aren't a bad idea as it helps remind him of sequences etc but they don't prove that this is how his mind works).
I would like to have a stack of articles that I could give to people during meetings if they come up with any of these old chestnuts just to see if I can make them think again. Does anyone have any links to good articles debunking these myths?
Will post in AIBU for traffic if it is quiet here but thought this would be the best place to start.
Many thanks