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 …

On Autistic People and Dogs

This is my family’s dog Doodlebug. He’s a barrel-chested, chubby-bellied (ok fine, he's overweight) energetic, happy beagle mix who we’ve had for eleven years now. A dark-brown and white beagle-mix dog sits next to a person with medium-length curly red hair wearing a green shirt and black shorts (me). The person is looking perpendicular to …

Accommodations are not Rewards

Disability accommodations are among the most important factors in allowing autistic and other neurodivergent people to equally access an education. “Equally access” here is the key phrase, because the entire purpose of accommodations for a disability at an academic institution is to ensure the same opportunity for all students to access an education (and the …

The Sense of Touch and Autistic Perception

Breaking down the sense of touch and how it may be perceived differently by autistic people.

Navigating Autistic Communication (and Social Grey Area)

Autistic and non-autistic people have differing communication styles in both obvious and not-so-obvious ways. It’s not that one style is right and the other is wrong, it’s just different. One of the many commonly-cited differences between autistic and non-autistic communication is that autistic people are generally more black and white with communication where non-autistic people …