This list is created with the articles of Autistic Parents and Parents of Autistics.
Autism Checklist of DOOM
By Shannon Rosa and Autistic Science Person at TPGA
@ShannonRosa and @AutSciPerson
If you are a parent or caregiver for an autistic person—a child, or an adult—we beg you to consider our Autism Checklist of Doom. We’ve put this list together to help those who aren’t autistic themselves (or whose autistic traits differ from those of their child/charge) to understand what may upset an autistic person, and cause distress. We hope that by highlighting issues that may not be obvious to a bystander, you can help the autistic people in your life thrive, as much as possible ..
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AUTISTIC MOTHERS’ EXPERIENCES OF BREAST- AND FORMULA- FEEDING BABIES: WHAT DOES THE EVIDENCE SAY?
By Aimee Grant and Kat Williams at Autistic UK
If you search online for Autism and breastfeeding, you’ll see a ton of papers about the association – or lack of association – between mothers breastfeeding and the child “developing Autism”. The statement that “correlation does not equal causation” – ie: just because you can show a link between two things, there’s no evidence that thing A caused thing B – is very appropriate here.
Let me start by pointing out that being Autistic is a lifelong neurotype we’re (both Aimee and Kat are Autistic) born with, not something that is, or could ever be, caused by a parenting behaviour. Anyway, my point is that, regardless of this association being of limited importance, this association is discussed in thousands and thousands of journal articles.….
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Non-Autistic Parents: Why We Should Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Written by Ellie Hunja at Not An Autism Mom
In the days leading up to Autism Acceptance Month, something unexpected started happening on my social media feed.
I noticed a lot of… dread.
My son was diagnosed just 10 months prior, so I had no context for why parents of autistic kids and autistic adults alike were bracing themselves for April. After seeing post after post, I noticed some key differences in the source of the dread.
Autistic adults seemed to be bracing themselves for a month of people speaking over them and harming their community in the name of “advocacy.” …
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Also read: Non-Autistic Parents: Why We Should Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable – Part Two
WHY NO AUTISTIC CHILD SHOULD BE IN ABA THERAPY
By Shannon Des Roches Rosa at TPGA
Professionals usually tell parents of newly diagnosed autistic children that it is “critical” to put those children in early intervention therapies like Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA therapy). Parents are warned about “missing a developmental window,” then urged to place young children in intensive therapy for up to 40 hours per week. We are told that these therapies are justified by decades of research, and that they will save our children by making them “indistinguishable from their peers.”
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AFTER AN AUTISM DIAGNOSIS: 13 NECESSARY NEXT STEPS FOR PARENTS
By Shannon Des Roches Rosa at TPGA
If your child has recently been diagnosed with autism, as my son was in 2003, here’s what I want you to know: Learn from me, don’t be me.
When professionals first started suggesting that my Leo might be autistic, I reeled. I didn’t know anything about autism at the time, except as disability version of a child-stealing bogeyman. When my son’s diagnosis was confirmed, I was terrified. And then I was depressed. And then I got to work on figuring out how to parent an autistic kid …
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Restraint and Seclusion: My nine-year-old attempted suicide at school. Twice.
On a beautiful October day in 2020, I answered a phone call from the school that would change my life. I really couldn’t understand all the words being said to me over the phone. I was just told to come to the school. Quickly.
I jumped in my car going as quickly as I could go. At the school, I found my neurodivergent nine-year-old son in the fetal position surrounded by teachers. When I was within arms reach, he tightly pulled me into an frantic hug. Coldly, the professionals separated me from my son, and I was escorted into into a conference room with people I didn’t know.…
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A Parent’s Guide to Respectful Feeding Therapy – Part 1
by Caroline Braun, M.S., CCC-SLP
If you suspect that your child may be having difficulty eating, it can feel really, really scary and overwhelming. It might feel like everyone else’s child is eating everything so easily while you feel lucky to get a handful of chips into your child’s belly at lunchtime. Other parents and loved ones are quick to give you advice, but you feel like you’ve tried everything. You might be beginning to think that your child’s eating challenges are more than just a phase of “picky eating.”
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Also read: A Parent’s Guide to Respectful Feeding Therapy: Part 2
International Badass Activists 