Sensory Eating is not Picky Eating

I want you to imagine that you are a kid once again, maybe ten or eleven years old. You are sitting down in the evening with your family for dinner. The table is set, and your parents bring out what will be tonight's entree: a cut of cold, raw chicken breast. It's slimy pink mass …

Schools are Failing Autistic Students – Here’s a big reason why

Autistic students regularly report experiencing trauma at school. Behaviorism is causing our schools to fail to meet the needs of autistic students.

The Problem with “Mental Age”

One unfortunate way that you'll often see people with developmental disabilities, including autistic people, described is with the concept of mental age. "Oh, they're a ten year old in the body of a twenty-one year old." "My daughter's eleven, but functions as a six year old." "My cousin's legally an adult but is mentally four." …

Who Am I? – All About Me

One of my favorite parts about reading the blogs of my fellow autistic advocates is getting to know them as people. I love reading about their lives, their adventures, and how they overcame the same or similar struggles that I faced. I like reading and getting to throw my hands up in the air and …

AAC, Autism, and the Communication First Approach

One thing that often confuses people new to the autism world are all the acronyms. It seems like just about everything has a three-letter acronym associated with it, and I can understand why it would be difficult to keep all of them straight or remember what they all stand for. But there's one acronym that …

International Disability Day of Mourning 2021

March 1st has been designated the International Disability Day of Mourning. It is a day for the disability community to mourn the loss of disabled people who were murdered by their parents or caregivers, a heinous form of murder called filicide. Disabled people, especially people with developmental disabilities like autism, are significantly more likely to …