Some truths about autism

I was thinking about writing this because I was talking to someone today who told me that her nephew had autism but grew out of it.  There are misconceptions about the spectrum and I just wanted to expose some of those again.

Well, let me tackle the first one that I have just mentioned.  The belief that someone can “grow out” of autism.  Actually this is IMPOSSIBLE.  Autism is formed IN THE WOMB with the brain patterns that create the autism spectrum in the body.  So a child/adult cannot acquire it or lose it because it is part of their genetic make up from the beginning right until the end of life.

When speaking to an autistic person, it is VITAL that you are absolutely clear in what you say to them.  They think in terms of black or white and it’s not just that there are only some shades of grey.  It is literally a colour they don’t even see or recognise as existing.  For example, if you don’t make it clear that an answer to something is “no”, then in their minds, the answer MUST BE “yes.”  Because that is how their brains work differently to other individuals.

I know that people assume that all autistic people are the same, but that is not true.  You have verbal and non verbal, for example.  Most of them find it hard to learn how to do personal care tasks - but not all of them.  Many find it hard to sleep (boy do I know that one!).  

Autism is a SPECTRUM.  Which means there are many different levels of functioning and developing in each person.  They may or may not have other conditions related to being on the spectrum, so each individual is unique.  One educational psychologist suggested to me that I view it as the spectrum being a rainbow with the seven different colours and the person can be ANY ONE of the dots on the rainbow on any colour.

TREASURE

Autism can be a wonderful gift because of the unique way each person on the spectrum thinks.  There are challenges that need to be overcome but that’s the same with every person in the world, so it’s up to us as parents/carers/relatives/friends to help them understand and navigate the world around them.