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Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series – Wonderful Websites

By Life, The Web, ThinkingNo Comments
wonderful-websites-image This is the eleventh and final blog post in a series titled Wonderful Websites. The first focused on general health and can be read here. The second focused on mental health and mental illness and can be read here.

The third post focused on shopping and can be read here. The fourth focused on money and can be read here.

The fifth focused on gigs, shows and theatres and can be read here. The sixth focused on paganism and can be read here.

The seventh focused on gay culture and society and can be read here. The eighth focused on TV, Online Streaming & Films and can be read here.

The ninth focused on music & radio and can be read here. The tenth focused on technology and can be read here.

This is also the second in an Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series of blog posts. The first post was Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series – What they are, Signs/Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment Approaches.

Here’s Wonderful Websites for autism and Asperger’s syndrome:

1. The National Autistic Society – A great online resource. It covers autism and Asperger’s syndrome for all ages and people in all circumstances.

2. NHS Choices – Autism Spectrum Disorder a great website for understanding the basics of autism and Asperger’s syndrome. It includes sections on: overview, symptoms, causes, diagnosis, treatment and adults with autism.

3. Scope: Autism – A fantastic website for all things disability. Their website has sections for people whom are disabled, a section for families and a section for professionals. They also have a telephone helpline.

4. Child Autism UK – A useful website if you have a child who has or you suspect has autism.

5. Asperger’s Syndrome Foundation UK – The website is really basic, but does have some good information on.

6. Asperger-Syndrome.me.uk – This website has some great content, but you can’t copy/paste the information as the information is saved as images rather than text. This means it’s usefulness for research purposes is limited.

Are there any websites around autism or Asperger’s syndrome that you think are useful that aren’t on the list? If so leave a comment below and let me know.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Saturday 21 July 2018

Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series – What they are, Signs/Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment Approaches

By Education, Friends & Family, Life, ThinkingNo Comments

During my working and personal life I have met people who have told me that they are on the autistic spectrum or have been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. But I’ll be honest, I don’t know that much about autism or Asperger’s syndrome.

So I’m writing this Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series to educate myself and others.

What is Autism?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the name for a range of similar conditions, including Asperger syndrome, that affect a person’s social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour.

In children with ASD, the symptoms are present before three years of age, although a diagnosis can sometimes be made after the age of three.

It’s estimated that about 1 in every 100 people in the UK has ASD. More boys are diagnosed with the condition than girls.

(From: NHS Choices – Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), last accessed: Sunday 15th July 2018.)

Here’s a video that explains more:

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What is Asperger’s Syndrome?

Asperger’s Syndrome is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder that falls within the autistic spectrum. It is a life-long condition, which affects about 1 in 200 people, more commonly in men than women. Those with Asperger’s Syndrome are usually of average or above average intelligence.

The condition is characterised by difficulties with Social Interaction, Social Communication and Flexibility of Thinking or Imagination. In addition, there may be sensory, motor and organisational difficulties.

(From: Asperger’s Syndrome Foundation – What is Asperger’s Syndrome, last accessed: Sunday 15th July 2018.)


Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms include difficulties interacting with others and unusual thinking patterns. Behaviour is likely to be affected, as explained below:

Examples of Autism Spectrum Behaviours:

Communication

  • Echoing words/phrases without context
  • Taking an adult to the biscuit tin rather than asking or pointing
  • Taking language too literally

Social Interactions

  • Preference to play alone
  • Difficulty relating to other people
  • Not understanding other’s thoughts and emotions

Repetitive behaviours

  • Hand flapping
  • Toe walking
  • Spinning wheels
  • Lining up cars

Restrictive behaviour

  • Eating only yellow food
  • Insisting on walking the same route
  • Only watching Thomas the Tank Engine

…

People with autism may or may not have the following:

  • Exceptional attention to detail
  • Sensory differences, this is most noticeable when children are over-sensitive to stimuli e.g. distress at loud noises
  • Trouble with co-ordination
  • Unusual eating behaviour such as only eating certain foods
  • Additional learning disabilities
  • A very small percentage have unusual abilities for example with music or memory

(From: Child Autism – Symptoms, last accessed: Sunday 15th July 2018.)

People with autism and Asperger’s syndrome are at higher risk of developing or have these other conditions: learning disabilities, ADHD, epilepsy, dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, OCD, depression, anxiety, bipolar, sleeping problems, Tourette’s syndrome or other tick disorders.

Autism-Spectrum-Disorder

Image From & Copyright © Dream Health – Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2014.

Diagnosis

People get diagnosed with autism or Asperger’s syndrome by their GP referring them to a Specialist Team. These days people are often diagnosed as children. The specialist team usually includes a Paediatrician, a Psychologist, a Psychiatrist, a Speech & Language Therapist and a Occupational Therapist.

Treatment Approaches
As every person with autism or Asperger’s syndrome is different, the treatment for each person is different; depending on the individual’s needs. However treatment includes interventions around developing communication skills, interaction skills, the ability to imagine and traditional academic skills.

It is also useful for parents/carers and other family members to go on a parenting and autism course. This is because these courses are packed with strategies to best support a child with autism.

Parents/carers and other family members can also get peer support which will help them feel less isolated and give them opportunities to learn from others at a local support group. If there isn’t a group locally, there’s lots of message boards online.

In the next post in this Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series I’ll be listing useful websites around autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

Write soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Wednesday 18 July 2018

The Positive Side to Disappointment

By Life, ThinkingNo Comments
the-positive-side-to-disappointment-2018 Sometimes things in life don’t work out the way we’d like or expect them to. I’ve had one of these experiences recently and it led to me feeling disappointed. I wont go into what happened here, but will discuss what I learned from the experience.

Disappointment is a mix of emotions including sadness, rejection, frustration and anger. Feeling let down. Feeling like you have failed. None of these emotions or feelings are positive.

But if you take some time to think about it, there is a positive side to disappointment. Here are some positives:

  • Learning – You can learn a lot from the experience that caused you to feel disappointed. You can use this learning to help you navigate future similar events.
  • Stepping stone to future success – Anyone who is successful has often failed (and no doubt felt disappointment at the same time). But they have used past failures and disappointments as a stepping stone to future success.
  • Thing happen for a reason – I’m a big believer that things happen for a reason. Even if you don’t understand it at the time. Opportunities that I have failed to get in the past have nearly always turned out with me feeling grateful that I didn’t succeed in the first place.
  • An opportunity to take time out, reflect and re-plan – Feelings of disappointment take you out of your normal logical cognitive functioning. This can be an opportunity to take time out, reflect on choices made and change future plans.
  • Motivation – Feeling disappointed initially demotivates anyone. But once you get past this initial stage you can use it to motivate you and use it as springboard to future success.
  • To get perspective – Disappointment can be used to put things into perspective. Ask yourself: are you going to care about this in a year’s time? Is it life or death? Will it cause the world to end? Compare what’s important in your life and this disappointment to gain a more positive perspective.
  • Look at how well you did – Ask yourself: Could you have done anything more? Would it have changed the outcome? If the answer to both of these questions is no, then recognise that you did your very best. Make peace with yourself and accept this.
  • Other opportunities – Know that other opportunities are open to you. Yes, there is always the risk of failure and/or disappointment, but think of the benefits of these opportunities should you be successful. Now imagine how many of these opportunities would you have missed had you not been disappointed now. You might have an even better opportunity awaiting you around the corner.

Blog soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Wednesday 11 July 2018

It Comes in Threes

By Life, Technology, TransportationNo Comments

There’s a saying that things, especially bad things, come in threes. I’ve had two unfortunate things happen recently.

First my new laptop that I’ve written about here died in under 1 week. It crashed and froze on start up, meaning it was completely unusable. I tried reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows via Recovery Mode (F2 pressed repeatedly on switch on) but to no avail. However credit must be given where it is due, HP Support were fantastic. They arranged for my faulty laptop to be picked up and replaced it with a new one quickly.

new-HP-laptop-Died

My new HP Laptop died in under one week.

Second the clutch went in my car. Luckily just after I got off the motorway. The RAC towed it to a garage. At the garage we discovered that my car would no longer switch on. This means that as well as the master cylinder that needing replacing, there’s also likely to be another problem with my car.

Currently my car is still with the garage, nearly three weeks later. Hiring a car is starting to get costly and it’s likely that my car will end up being an expensive repair job.

car-olly-off-the-road

The clutch went in my car. It’s still in the garage, nearly three weeks later.

This poses the question:

what-next

Well I’ve got a few contenders. My boiler is playing me up. The speaker and microphone on my iPhone 6 plus is starting to go. This is particularly annoying and frustrating as I’ve only had my iPhone for just over a year. It was a replacement for a previous iPhone that also broke at just over a year old. On my next upgrade I’m most likely to switch to a Samsung Galaxy. Hopefully their phones are better built. My Washer/Dryer has started to sound like a noisy hovercraft taking off.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that whatever the third thing is to brake, it holds off for a few months.

Write soon,

Antony

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Saturday 30 June 2018
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