Maybe you've heard about them online, in a book or a therapist has recommended it for your child, but what about these blankets is a big deal?
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First, let's delve into what exactly picky eating is. Picky eating can be typical of a normal developing child. For typical developing children, the onset of picky eating can begin starting at age 18 months until up to three years of age. This kind of picky eating is more about control and choice rather than the food itself, as shown by the ability to eat once they are hungry enough. I'd say that ageless classic line of, "A child won't starve themselves. They'll eat when they're hungry" might ring true for normal picky eaters. The shining light at the end of the rainbow is for them, the picky eating gets to leave around age 6 or so. On the opposite side, how to know your child has a selective eating disorder is more obvious. Onset of the eating habits are typically birth but can wait until four years of age before showing. The "obvious" part of the disorder is that the child doesn't reject certain foods. They reject entire food groups. Meats and vegetables are the usual suspects. Eating socially is typically avoided. The stress of having to eat foods in an over-stimulating place is too much work. Likewise, the stress of even touching or smelling new flavors and textures can result in meltdowns. And sadly, these behaviors do not stop; they continue into adulthood. Selective Eating Disorders are prevalent among the special needs community with a wide variety of disabilities like autism (ASD), oral-motor delays, swallowing difficulties, gastrointestinal problems and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). These are just a few difficulties, not all.
Recent accusationsMore and more are becoming vocal, thanks to social media, about their lives with children under the spectrum. This very blog and Instagram blog were created to lift the veil of autism in real life to expose many truths that the public doesn't know about ASD. And with all that exposure and community, there are plenty to butt up against the recent acceptance and understanding spreading around.
For whatever reason, parents are feeling that parents of ASD children are "glamorizing" the situation and the daily lives we lead. Their disgust typically centralizes on the idea that we are some how happy and blessed with our lives. That ASD is an end-of-the-world situation meant to be hidden away in institutions and children should be forced to hear horror stories about these mentally impaired strange ones. Like ASD is bad, and should be treated that way in the public eye so as to discourage (?) others from treading down that path. Believe me, I've tried to wrap my head around it too. It doesn't make sense but that's the only thing I can think of that would be the reasoning. It cannot be that people are suddenly uncomfortable with those who are different from them just for that reason alone. That would be absurd! Are autism rates truly on the rise? Or, are we just now noticing it for what it truly is? First off, I need to make a point that autism isn't always debilitating. It isn't always obvious. Autism can be little things, or "quirks", that makes a person seem odd but nothing more than that. I know that older generations see autism as a severe disability that makes a person unable to function as a person which isn't remotely true. It can be that way but isn't always. This is why more and more scholars are discovering that autism rates aren't "on the rise" as society believes. Rather, we are understanding more of the little signs that make a person autistic.
Autism has to ability to cripple a child's ability to interact with peers. The markers of this disorder truly prevent many social connections from being forged because of a child's inability to either confront others socially OR they are unable to interrupt social cues for the other to make communicating effective. Many of us parents learn of their abilities to socialize. With parents, it comes easy for many of the children. But when we step out and see our child become seemingly withdrawn or alone, it hurts to know that our loving, funny talkative fellow has no words to say to another. This in turn leads to other people believing our child cannot do things rather than believing that they need a little help in the right direction. So, as parents, there are steps that we can take to ensure that our little autistic beauties can find their voice among others.
Over my city, I've been seeing more and more billboards with this same message. For some reason, when I first saw it I didn't even really acknowledge it, but the more I looked at it, the more angry it made me. Angry, why angry? Well, lets just say the generalization of autism is more harming than good. Autism is more than eye contactThere is so much more to a child than eye contact just like autism is much more, or less, than avoiding eye contact. Overall I feel that it sends the message that autistic children aren't social. Though they might not be obviously social, in their own ways they try to interact with others. Autism impairs the ability to connect, and appropriately interact. It doesn't make it impossible. They aren't "withdrawn". People with autism are in their own world of overwhelming sights, sounds, smells and tastes which can make it difficult for others to break that barrier. Avoiding eye contact with someone is only natural when they aren't in that world.
Autism used to be a scary word to me. A four letter word, with three extras. That was until I got Hilo's diagnosis. Now autism isn't anything but an adjective. Descriptive but not the entire noun. Hilo isn't autism only. And my first born son isn't scary. Truly he's been the most happy, quirky, loving child I could have ever wished for. His diagnosis hasn't consumed the child he was before the "A-word" was said. Hilo is Hilo, with a small side of autism along with many other words I'd use to describe him.
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AuthorGabrielle Rae is a special needs, stay at home mommy of two boys. She enjoys reading and writing novels in her spare time. @onbothfrontsArchives
August 2018
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