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Looking for guidance with Autism. (beehaw.org)

submitted 2 days ago by Thegreyreyal@beehaw.org to c/askbeehaw@beehaw.org

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My child was just diagnosed with being on the spectrum. Having no personal experience or information about it, I am looking to better educate myself in order to be a better advocate for my son. I realize there is a lot of disinformation out there, so where is a good place to start? I know this is a really big question but anything helps.

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[–] FBJimmy@lemmus.org 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

As someone with a number of friends, family and colleagues on the spectrum, and a wife who works in SEN, I would say the best source of knowledge would be to seek out people with first hand experience to talk to.

There are books with people's lived experiences that might be helpful too - I'm actually currently reading "Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire" by David Plumber.

Finally, sounds silly, but there are some fairly meme-y groups on here that can still offer insight, e.g. autisticandadhd@lemmy.world

[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Same situation for me (lots of family and friends who have autism), and I agree. Talk to people with autism. They will be your best source of real information.

Also, everyone has different needs, and autism differs quite a bit between male and female, so try to get a wide range of experiences.

It also helps to consider what level your kid was diagnosed at because the needs for a nonverbal L3 are very different from a L1.

[–] The_Sasswagon@beehaw.org 2 points 1 day ago

Symptoms vary not just by male and female, but from person to person, background to background, childhood to childhood, and they change with age. Autism covers a huge range of symptoms, and in reality anyone can have any of them even if they don't match the typical archetype.

You'll also find a lot of folks who weren't diagnosed as a child, and then choose not to be diagnosed as an adult (it's hard to get an adult diagnosis, and it's expensive depending on where you live). More often than not these people will be able to live life without being noticed as autistic, but depending on where you look for info, they may not be included.

Seconding what the people I replied to said, talk to autistic people, every one will have a different opinion and outlook because they (we if you count self diagnosis) are all different people.

Personally, I recommend looking into the Autistic Rights Movement. It challenges the notion that autism is a disability and places an emphasis on autistic people doing the scientific research and helping each other.

[–] SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org 2 points 2 days ago

The youtube channels: Yo Samdy Sam, Purple Ella and Agony Autie are good.

[–] rimu@piefed.social -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Your nearest public library will have lots of books.

[–] FBJimmy@lemmus.org 9 points 2 days ago

...but beware of older literature... We understand a lot more now than we did even 10-20 years ago.