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Uniquely Human Podcast #5 – The Harmful Myth of High-Functioning and Low-Functioning Autism; An Autism Fathers’ Group; Guest Dr. Robert Naseef
Episode 5 - The Harmful Myth of High-Functioning and Low-Functioning Autism; An Autism Fathers’ Group; Guest Dr. Robert Naseef Overview Re-thinking the commonly used language that has proven detrimental to understanding the autistic person. Barry and Dave examine the potentially...
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If My Son Could Speak
My son, Tariq, is turning 40 this November. He is autistic, as well as nonspeaking, and he has a severe intellectual disability. Like many other parents of nonspeaking autistic children, I have had imaginary conversations with him many times over the years, and I wonder what he would tell me if he...
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The Newborn and the Child with Autism: The Advice is the Same
As a parent with a 25-year-old son with autism, I am often asked what advice I would give to parents with a newly diagnosed child. My response is the same advice I give to new mothers as a nurse on the maternity unit. Parental emotional adjustment to a new baby is analogous to the adjustment to...
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Giving Logan a Voice – One Father’s Trailblazing Creation to Help His Son
Logan was born in 1997 and is now aged 18 - what a journey we have all had! He was born 2 years after Maia, his sister, and in the early years developed as we expected him to. He was a very easy baby, sleeping soundly with very little disruption. His motor development was normal and early language...
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Understanding the Father Factor While Raising Children with ASD
Fathers of children with autism tend to be either very involved or withdrawn and virtually absent from interactions with professionals—with the majority seemingly uninvolved. From this observation, many professionals assume that fathers do not wish to be involved. Is this really the case, or do...
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Just Friends: A Father’s View of His Son’s Relationships
Social service agencies have a good read on my 16-year-old son Alex. Somewhere in the photocopied, crooked lines of one of his service plans, for instance, is the line, “Alex Stimpson doesn’t have a best friend.” Alex does make connections. He does ask for his little brother Ned, for his...
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The Regular Tiger: A Father Deals With His Son’s Obsessions
A little past 10 on a Tuesday night my 16-year-old son Alex jackknifes up in his bed, throws down his blanket, looks at me, raises his arm and moans, “Tiger.” “I don’t have it, Alex. Did you have it in here?” Does he mean the $5, four-inch tiger or the $4, four-inch one with his...
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Autism Paradox and the Broken (Special) Education System
YouTube and the Internet have provided a boost for my 14-year-old autistic son, where his public school has failed to educate him. Technology has empowered Fridrik to explore his curiosity, while expands his intelligence. Using the 1990s cartoon series Dexter’s Laboratory and its 78 episodes...
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Cut Out for Him: A Father on His Son’s Employment Future
My 15-year-old son Alex (diagnosed PDD-NOS) goes to a special-needs school where some students are old enough to work. A few years ago Alex’s teacher told me about when she approached a local thrift shop about students volunteering there. “We don’t hire the handicapped,” the clerk...
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The Costs of Raising a Teenage Son with Autism
Researchers at the Children’s Institute, a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the University of Rochester, NY, studied the connection between autism and the hemorrhage of cash a family endures when one of their own has the condition. “It’s a disorder that seems to have an impact on...
