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fiorelli

Common Misconceptions.

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Was wondering if you could help me please?

 

I am currently doing my Adult Literacy Level 2 course, and as part of that, I have to choose a subject and prepare a portfolio on it. I have chosen (surprise! Surprise!) Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

 

I am trying to put together a information leaflet giving brief information about ASDs - what they are, what it means, common misconceptions etc. So I was wondering if you can help me by telling me what wonders you have been told/heard said about ASD, I'll start so as to give you an idea of what I'm looking for...

 

Ooh, that means you're a genious doesn't it! (in relation to Aspergers Syndrome)

He can't have that - he talks! (in relation to hearing someone has Autism)

 

Thanks for your help!

Fi xx

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Adults don't get autism.

 

It must be very mild in your case. (Especially from people who don't know me well and don't see how much I struggle.)

 

It's caused by shoddy parenting.

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thing's i've had said to me are

 

he is too loving

he is very social (as he tries to make friends...just hitting them to make them chase him isnt the best way to go lol)

he is very talkative

he is spoilt

he must be a genius

he doesn't look autistic

he has friends (well 1...the others are girls who love to mother him lol)

he is very active (some peeps seem to think that autistic people are slow and lazy)

he will come round in the end

its bad parenting

 

hmmmmmm all i can think of at the moment LOL

 

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Autistic people aren't deaf - there's no need to shout :shame:

There is no 'cure' :angry:

I won't 'get better' (as there's nothing 'wrong' with me)(I hope my mother reads this one) :dance:

Being diagnosed (especially as an adult) does not rob you of 100 IQ points :huh:

Autistic people don't sit in a corner sucking their thumb (a psychologist once told me that they did :wallbash:)

Being autistic does not mean that you automatically have 'a gift' :crying:

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- you must be good at maths

- Aspergers is only mild so you're hardly affected at all

- autism can be cured with better discipline

- you need to show Asperger's kids who's boss and physically drag them where necessary

- autism is a mental illness and sufferers need to be treated in a mental hospital (a version of this old chestnut is currently doing the rounds on the TES in the behaviour forum - is it any wonder that our kids have problems at school :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash: )

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Thank you all for these, they are just what I'm after.

 

BD, thanks for the link to the other thread on this subject too!

 

 

Hi i have had the following said to me:-

 

She will grow out of it

She just needs a good telling off

You are too soft

Behaviour caused by me and dad splitting up

Behaviour caused by younger sister (jealousy)

Can't be autistic has imagination, social

She is lazy, due to struggling in education

She as adhd due to hyperness, but only hyper when been outside, fine when she had chicken pox as we couldn't go out anywhere....

 

Hope your assignment goes ok, i am glad i aren't the only one that comes across these comments. Sharon x

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Unfortunate misconceptions said to me:

 

"How could he miss a friend, they don't have feelings"

 

"He can't have that, he's friendly"

 

"It's a behaviour disorder" (this is usually meant to prove that my child MUST have been the one in the wrong). The truth is bad behaviour usually, in my experience, stems from frustration, confusion or anger in my child - not a direct result of AS, but a side effect of the other difficulties.

 

As Alisha has, I've also been told I had sat at home with just me and him too much (I was NCT Rep and attended coffee mornings every week with up to 12 children there!).

Edited by Mandapanda

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As well as my very insightful post in the other thread, i would offer some 'balance' for the sake of people reading f's portfolio to dispel some of the myths that parents of autistic children often perpetuate.

 

autistic children do not behave badly purely as a result of their condition. They are just as capable of behaving badly because they are children/human beings.

autistic children are not special gifts from heaven sent to teach us something

parents of autistic children are not 'chosen by god' for any reason whatsoever, and are just as capable as any other parent of misunderstanding/misrepresenting and overcompensating for their child's needs

autistic children are not exempt from responsibility or incapable of taking/learning to take responsibility

Not all autistic children who refuse to eat anything but chicken nuggets are hypersensite

Not all autistic children who have tantrums are having a 'meltdown' arising from their condition

Not all autistic children who lash out do so because they 'don't understand'.

Not all autistic children who refuse school do so because the school environment is 'wrong' for them

Not all autistic children who lash out when they don't want to do something do so because they can't cope with 'change'.

Not all parents of autistic children believe that the 'dangerous' myths are exclusively the ones perpetauted by 'neurotypical' society.

Not all autistic people believe that the 'dangerous' myths are exclusively the ones perpetuated by 'neurotypical' society.

Autistic people who hold views that are unpopular with some autistic lobby groups are not 'uncle toms'

Autistic people who hold some views that are unpopular with some neurotypical lobby groups are not all 'radicals'

Autistic people should not be patronised nor assumed always to have some degree of additional insight.

Parents of autistic people should not be patronised nor assumed always to have some degree of additional insight.

Professionals are not 'the enemy', however much it can feel like it.

Parents of autistic people are not the professionals enemy, however much it can feel like it.

Autism is not the enemy, however much it can feel like it.

No stereotype is the truth

No truth is the whole truth

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.

Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Autism is not what you think it is - whatever you think it is

Autism is an umbrella term - but every raindrop is different ;):whistle:

 

L&P

 

BD :D

Edited by baddad

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Thanks again for your help with this all. I wanted to give you a little update. My portfolio is finished, and I have my on-line exam on Monday.

 

The leaflets I made up, and my (5 minute) presentation on ASDs was well recieved. - Well nobody was asleep by the end of it, and I had plenty of questions afterwards, so I think I did an ok job. I am awaiting the written feedback from my tutor, but she verbally said I did very well, and that my slides were very informative and brilliant for the guy down the street who knows nothing. (well, I think that was a compliment anyway!)

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