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Reflections

 

 

 

 

 

School Trauma: Tuning into the language of behaviour.

 
 
For many of us, when we withdraw our children from school after prolonged challenges within that system, we expect that our children will begin to do better at home.
 
This isn't always
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Appearances can be (so very) deceiving.

I'm a PDA autistic (Pathological demand avoidance).
 
This means that my social connectedness; my ability to engage with others naturally and to make eye contact gives the impression that I po
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How I show up in friendships.

Hi! 👋 I'm Kristy, and I'm TERRIBLE at being a friend in the neuronormative sense.
 
I take months to respond to messages in my inbox, if ever.
 
Sometimes I say things that come across as
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An invitation to lead with love.

Contrary to popular parenting advice, the time when our children return to the safety of our energy after being in trouble is not the time to lecture.
 
It is not the time to remind our babies
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Sensory overload and a social hangover.

Sitting here reminiscing about the good ole masking in social situations; days of extreme and intense anxiety for weeks, months leading up to events with other people.
 
The day would finally
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Food, glorious food!

Trigger Warning: Mentions food, eating disorders and sensory aversions.

Please note the below is my personal experience and I am not a qualified medical professional or dietician.

 

Food. Glorious ...

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Meeting my (now) husband.

In the years of my heavily masked unidentified autistic life, dating was an absolute nightmare.
 
I hated it.
 
Relationships caused me so much confusion, pain, self-doubt and anguish.
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Reclaiming the word "autistic."

A great beginning point when becoming a friend and ally to the autistic community is to use the term "autistic" rather than ASD.
 
I see the abbreviation ASD and my skin crawls.
 
Autism
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My disability is my most sacred ally.

So much of my anger, resentment and self-loathing as a young person came from the pressure I felt to mask.
 
Masking is both something I, as an autistic person partake in as a choice at times
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When there's not enough processing time.

Parenting is tough.
 
Being autistic and parenting can be challenging when we share the same sensory challenges as our little people and need time and space to be calm.
 
Today we had a
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