Many people on the autism spectrum have difficulty processing everyday sensory information that most neurotypical people take for granted.  Any of the senses may be over or under-sensitive, or both, at different times. These sensory differences can affect our behaviour, and can have a profound effect on a person’s life.

Sometimes an autistic person may behave in a way that you wouldn’t immediately link to sensory sensitivities. A person who struggles to deal with everyday sensory information can experience sensory or information overload. Too much information can cause stress, anxiety and sometimes physical pain. This can result in withdrawal, challenging behaviour or as a worst-case scenario, a meltdown. These issues and senses are as follows, but not limited to:-

SIGHT

Under-Sensitive

•  Objects appear quite dark, or lose some of their features.
• Central vision is blurred but peripheral vision quite sharp.
• A central object is magnified, but objects on the periphery are blurred.
• Poor depth perception; problems with throwing and catching; clumsiness.

Things that might help include the use of visual supports or coloured lenses, although there is very limited research/evidence for such lenses.

Over-Sensitive

Distorted vision

•  Objects and bright lights can appear to jump around.
• Images may fragment.
• Easier and more pleasurable to focus on a detail rather than the whole object.
• Difficulty getting to sleep as sensitive to the light.
• Light hurting your eyes or causing headaches

SOUND

Under-Sensitive

• May only hear sounds in one ear, the other ear having only partial hearing or none at all.
• May not acknowledge particular sounds.
• Might enjoy crowded, noisy places or bang doors and objects.
  You could help by using visual supports to back up verbal information, and ensuring that other people are aware of the under-sensitivity so that they can communicate effectively. You could ensure that the experiences they enjoy are included in their daily timetable, to ensure this sensory need is met.

Over-Sensitive

•  Noise can be magnified and sounds become distorted and muddled.
• May be able to hear conversations in the distance.
• Inability to cut out sounds – notably background noise, leading to difficulties concentrating.

SMELL

Under-Sensitive

•  Some people have no sense of smell and fail to notice extreme odours (this can include their own body odour).
• Some people may lick things to get a better sense of what they are.

Over-Sensitive

Smells can be intense and overpowering. This can cause toileting problems.
Dislikes people with distinctive perfumes, shampoos, etc.

TASTE

Under-Sensitive

•  Likes very spicy foods.
• Eats or mouths non-edible items such as stones, dirt, soil, grass, metal, faeces.
• This is known as pica.

Over- Sensitive

•  Finds some flavours and foods too strong and overpowering because of very sensitive taste buds. Has a restricted diet.
• Certain textures cause discomfort – may only eat smooth foods like mashed potatoes or ice-cream.
• Some autistic people may limit themselves to bland foods or crave very strong-tasting food. As long as someone has some dietary variety, this isn’t necessarily a problem. Find out more about over-eating and restricted diets.

TOUCH

Under-Sensitive

•  Holds others tightly – needs to do so before there is a sensation of having applied any pressure.
• Has a high pain threshold.
• May be unable to feel food in the mouth.
• May self-harm.
• Enjoys heavy objects (eg weighted blankets) on top of them.
• Smears faeces as enjoys the texture.
• Chews on everything, including clothing and inedible objects.

You could help by:

•  For smearing, offering alternatives to handle with similar textures, such as jelly, or cornflour and water.
• For chewing, offering latex-free tubes, straws or hard sweets (chill in the fridge).

Over-Sensitive

•  Touch can be painful and uncomfortable – people may not like to be touched and this can affect their relationships with others.
• Dislikes having anything on hands or feet.
• Difficulties brushing and washing hair because head is sensitive.
• May find many food textures uncomfortable.
• Only tolerates certain types of clothing or textures.

Today, I’ve done something that, just a few short months ago, I never thought I would do. “What did you do?” I hear you ask. Bungee? Abseil? A parachute jump?

Hell, no. This is much worse than all those things combined. I went to a local literary festival called “Ways with Words”. They had a ticket-only event called a Poetry Breakfast, which was essentially a group of poetry lovers reading their favourite pieces of poetry in an ‘open mic’ format. I bought two tickets.

This was the first event like this I had ever been to, and it was also the first time I’d ever read a piece of my work in public. I took two pieces with me – one from my last anthology, Scribblology V2 and one from my upcoming third anthology (which has two working titles, “The Grand Leveller” or “The Black Lodge” but that is still up in the air).

The main thing is that I managed to stand up in front of the mic and read confidently. I’m so proud of myself for managing to take this step, and as a result I’m now looking at other events and competitions. I’ve even offered to appear on a podcast that had asked for submissions and have been asked to guest on another podcast about autism, so I guess this ride has finally started for me.

As with every expedition or journey, it begins with those first tentative steps in the right direction. The only thing holding me back is fear or doubt, but I’ve learned that these chains will keep you captive unless you break free. So, grab your emotional bolt cutters like I have, break free and join me on your own version of my rollercoaster!

Stay Safe X

It occurs to me more and more lately that I’m not as young as I think I am, despite my hip dress sense and my love of modern music and extreme sports. I do like trance and hip hop music, as well as modifying my car.

In some respects, it’s a very stark wake-up call that I can’t be young forever and that I can’t do some of the things I used to do, like extreme sports, clubbing then drinking all night with my friends, racing my motorcycle, etc… all things I haven’t done in at least 7 years. I guess we all have these “eureka” moments where we realise that maturity and wisdom have finally caught up with us. While I have spent most of the last ten years refusing to get older, I’m finding a lot of things that millennial do are strange or downright weird to me, and this makes the transition into being an old(er) man a bit easier.

It’s little things that are slowly making me realise that I’m getting older. In fact, I’m starting to turn into a bit of a grumpy old man. I’m looking at the things that my children’s generation are into and thinking to myself WTF? It’s not just one thing in particular, really, it’s lots of things. The television programs they watch and find entertaining, the music they do and don’t like, the role models they have and worst of all the mentality of “I’ve got a YouTube channel with some followers so I’m going to be a famous millionaire by the time I’m 30”. That aside, let me look at these things individually and I’ll explain this grumpy old man’s take on them.

The quality of popular TV has become consistently worse. We now have an onslaught of reality-based drivel, like Big Brother, Love Island, Geordie Shore and TOWIE, which just show the younger generation that you can be a thick, talentless individual and still be rich and “famous”. I mean, really, some of these so-called famous people are so stupid, a Barbie or Ken doll (whom these celebs aspire to look like) would have more common sense.

Unfortunately, children look up to these people as role models. Surprisingly, in this day of personal computers in ‘phones, watches, etc, the younger generation who have a world of information in their pockets are not getting smarter; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Here are some genuine pearls of wisdom I’ve come across:

“Why do women never have to take a DNA test to see if the child’s theirs?”

“Where is the 2014 Brazil World Cup being held?”

As a result of these so-called celebrities, the younger generation think that if they create a YouTube channel, and get some followers, they will get rich without having to do any hard work. This is, in part, due to social attitudes amongst their peers, but it’s also partly our fault as the older generation. We told them they could do anything, they just had to want to do it. This, alongside the “everyone gets a medal for taking part” has left us with a generation of youngsters with no motivation or drive.

As for the music, don’t get me wrong, I’m not stuck in the Brit pop and grunge era of the 90’s or older. In fact, I listen to lots of different music from The Doors and Hendrix right through to Eminem and Bring Me The Horizon. My gripe with youngsters and music is twofold: Firstly, the majority of their music is not organic, it’s manufactured – basically it’s some kids being told how to dress, what to sing, etc. I’m not saying we didn’t have that in our time, but it was very rare.

The other thing is the attitude towards older music. My youngest once said, while hearing Jimi Hendrix, “What’s this rubbish?“… well, I informed her that without this “rubbish” she wouldn’t have the music she has today. The other brilliant faux-pas was when a popular American rapper teamed up with Paul McCartney (of the Beatles). The rapper’s fans went crazy, saying how good it was to give “this Paul guy” his big break, or that Paul’s career is now going to explode thanks to said rapper. I thought it was satire but apparently not… they actually thought Paul McCartney was a newbie.

It’s after looking at all this that I realise that, as much as I’d like to be thought of as being young for years to come, I’m actually happy to be getting old. I know this rant makes me seem like a grumpy old man, but I’m a grandparent who’s moved to the coast to enjoy his later life, so I guess I am allowed to have finally matured into a grumpy old man. As someone once said, I used to be “with it”, but then they changed what “it” is, so now “it” seems weird and scary to me.

You may well laugh, but it will happen to you. Be assured of that!

Stay Safe X

A trip to the seaside.

I’d like to take a moment to say a really big heartfelt thank you, to you all for the love and support you’ve shown me over the last few months,

I took a very big personal risk in starting up a podcast based on autism and throwing my poetry up in there as well, but the latest numbers have really exploded which made me feel that the project was worthwhile. I’m truly shocked and humbled by the amount of people that take time out of their busy lives to listen to me.

This year so far has proven to be a very good one in the Christian household so far, and I’m so grateful for the support my ramblings have received and the figures for the first month of my book Scribblology V2 sales have also smashed the figures set by my first book again this is down to you guys and I love you for the that.

Repetitive behaviours and stimming.

If you read a technical definition of autism, you’re likely to come across the phrase ‘repetitive behaviours’ somewhere in the mix.

On the face of it, that doesn’t sound like very much – but actually, it can be a major part of life. Some people with autism have only a few of these behaviours, and keep them private enough that not many people even notice, while for others, it can dominate their day. Most Autistic people, though, fall somewhere in the middle.

There’s ‘stereotypic movement behaviours’, also known as ‘stereotypes’, which means repetitive physical movements such as jumping, finger-flicking or eye-rolling. Some people with autism also have Tourette’s syndrome, which means a lot of physical and verbal tics.

When you see a person with autism doing such things, you’re likely to hear someone say that they’re ‘stimming’. This, once you understand it, is an incredibly useful concept when it comes to autism – so what does it mean?

Stimming is short for ‘self-stimulatory behaviour’. This means, technically, that somebody is doing something to give themselves sensory input – but what does that mean and is it harmful?

Think of it this way: when most people say something, it’s usually to communicate.  When they do something, it’s usually to have an effect on the world or themselves.  When they look at something, it’s usually because they’re getting information from it.

You do something because you want to achieve a consequence. When someone is stimming, they’re speaking, moving or gazing purely to enjoy the sensation it creates, and the state of mind that sensation produces. It is a self-created sensory reward loop: using an ordinary moment, putting it on repeat, and, basically, grooving on it.

A person with autism can stim on almost anything; it just needs to be something that appeals to them. However, common areas include:

Visual. Staring at lights; doing things to make the vision flicker such as repetitive blinking or shaking fingers in front of the eyes; staring at spinning objects like fan blades.

Auditory. Listening to the same song or noise, for instance rewinding to hear the same few notes over and over. Making vocal sounds, tapping ears, snapping fingers etc.

Tactile. Rubbing the skin with hands or with another object, scratching.

Taste/smell. Sniffing objects or people; licking or chewing on things, often things that aren’t edible.

Verbal. Known as echolalia – basically it’s repeating sounds, words or phrases without any obvious regard for their meaning.  Just liking the way they sound.

Proprioception. This means the body’s ability to feel where it is and what it’s doing; it’s often a sensation that autism can dull. Hence, a lot of stimming involves things like rocking, swinging, jumping, pacing, running, tiptoeing or spinning – all of which give the body’s sense of balance and position a boost.

People stimming can also go through strange-looking physical movements, for instance making faces, stamping, assuming postures that look contorted and uncomfortable from the outside, shaking the head or shrugging the shoulders, and flapping – that is, rapidly shaking or pumping the arms.

All in all, stimming can look very peculiar to people who don’t understand it. Strangers can find it frightening, but in fact the explanation for it is really quite simple: stimming is doing something repetitive for the sensation it creates rather than the result it produces – and that sensation is one that the person doing it finds pleasing.

How do you deal with other people who notice, though?

When it comes to friends and family, explaining and hoping they’ll be understanding is probably your best bet.

Strangers on the street can be another issue; you may want to have some cards to hand out if people bother you about it, but at least passers-by go out of your life relatively quickly. Just ignore them.

Probably the biggest worry is that odd-looking behaviours can attract bullying, and stimming is often among the most odd-looking and the most conspicuous behaviours a person with autism can have.

In cases like that, you may again need to get support from a professional or, if it’s your child, school staff. If it’s possible, the best solution might be to help your son or daughter understand that stimming is a private activity and might be better kept at home rather than at school. Whether they have the verbal and social understanding to take this on board is going to vary from individual to individual, of course, as will how much control they have over their stimming behaviours.

Of course, the ideal thing would be if all their schoolmates were open-minded and tolerant kids, who wouldn’t bully someone for being different. If your child is in a mainstream setting, consider speaking to the school and ask them if they could have classes or talks to help the other children understand autism.

In most cases, though, the rule with stimming should be that as long as it’s not causing problems, you should just let them enjoy it – and ‘looking weird’ really isn’t a problem unless people choose to make it one.

What if my child Is harming themselves?

There are, unfortunately, dangerous stims. Some children slap or punch themselves, knock their heads on the floor or window, bite themselves until they draw blood or, eventually, cause callouses or deformities.

Children with autism often have a high pain threshold and to them, these behaviours don’t always ‘hurt’: a child stimming like this may be doing what they can to get even just a moderate degree of sensation.

Knowing that, though, doesn’t mean it isn’t terrifying to see your child doing something over and over that’s going to create scars or bumps.

If this is happening to you, you need to call in professional help. This can include occupational therapists, clinical psychologists or behavioural specialists: people who can identify the specific root causes and try to redirect the behaviour into something less violent.

While you’re trying to resolve this problem – which really has to be done – don’t neglect your own mental health. Get help for your child, and get help for yourself if you can.

Before I start I should say that I absolutely do not condone or agree with any of the alleged treatments I’m going to cover tonight. Equally, I am only giving my opinion on the information provided by the organisations mentioned here.

I recently read an article in The Guardian newspaper this weekend about another magical and scientifically unproven way to “cure” Autism. This made me very angry.  As someone on the autism spectrum, we don’t need a cure because we aren’t sick. Also, there may be some people who are on the spectrum or have Autistic children who will think that one of these so-called cures could help them in some way.

All this does is sell false hope and promises while taking people’s hard earned money. The latest is a holistic treatment called Cease Therapy.

(The following information is taken direct from the Cease Therapy webpage)

The treatment of autistic children and even adults has matured through 300 cases over the last three years and is called CEASE Therapy, which stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression.  Step by step all assumed causative factors (vaccines, regular medication, environmental toxic exposures, effects of illness, etc.) are detoxified with the homeopathically prepared, that is diluted and potentized substances that were administered prior to the onset of autism. Currently we use the 30C, 200C, 1M and 10M potencies to clear out the energetic field of the patient from the imprint of toxic substances or diseases.

Obstacles to Cure

So far the main obstacle to cure seems to be the lack of information about the causes of this disease. When important events in the life story of these children and their parents are overlooked or unknown, an essential key to the healing can be missed.

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This in itself seems completely laughable to me. There is no medical or scientific research that backs up any of the above claims. There was only one study carried out by the notorious ex-GP Andrew Wakefield who was struck off and disgraced, and wrote a paper linking MMR vaccines to autism which has been totally discredited in the UK.

The next on the list of ways to cure autism comes from every autistic person’s worst nightmare and the one group that  Neurotypicals think represents us: the website Autism Speaks. It is a treatment called Applied Behaviour Analysis or ABA.

This is taken from the Autism Speaks webpage.

Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network (ATN) now has a tool kit to help parents work with their children’s applied behavior analysts.

What is Applied Behavior Analysis?

Behavior analysis focuses on the principles that explain how learning takes place. Positive reinforcement is one such principle. When a behavior is followed by some sort of reward, the behavior is more likely to be repeated. Through decades of research, the field of behavior analysis has developed many techniques for increasing useful behaviors and reducing those that may cause harm or interfere with learning.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is the use of these techniques and principles to bring about meaningful and positive change in behavior.

As mentioned, behavior analysts began working with young children with autism and related disorders in the 1960s. Early techniques often involved adults directing most of the instruction. Some allowed the child to take the lead. Since that time, a wide variety of ABA techniques have been developed for building useful skills in learners with autism – from toddlers through adulthood.

These techniques can be used in structured situations such as a classroom lesson as well as in “everyday” situations such as family dinnertime or the neighborhood playground. Some ABA therapy sessions involve one-on-one interaction between the behavior analyst and the participant. Group instruction can likewise prove useful.

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This is, in my opinion, a form of brainwashing and could be classed as abusive.  I’m sure that the parents are doing it because they care, they love their children and they want to help them. As such, they believe that there is no way they could be hurting their loved ones by putting them through this. Just because you care about someone or have good intentions does not guarantee you’re doing the best thing for them.

The result of this mindset is that Autistic kids are repeatedly forced to do things that are unnatural, uninteresting, and sometimes painful or dangerous. It’s all done in the name of “therapy” – and all with smiles and upbeat attitudes from the therapists. The kids might cry. They might try to escape. They may refuse to take part. But they have to do it, because it has been decided that it is good for them – that they’re being helped.  They just may not be able to see it or understand it at the time.

This is the same kind of conditioning that is used by abusive spouses and religious cults worldwide. Ask yourself – would you agree to put your NT child through this or if your friend’s parents or partner did this to them would it be ok? The answer is most likely “no”.

The final in this trilogy of what seem to me to be ridiculous and downright dangerous ideas out there is by far the worst thing I’ve ever heard of It’s called Chlorine Dioxide or Master Mineral Solution. Desperate parents in the UK, Canada, and USA are reportedly using a bleach solution in a drink in an attempt to cure autism, sometimes in children as young as 2 years old.  My understanding is that Chlorine dioxide (often referred to as simply CD) or Miracle/Master Mineral Solution (MMS) has been touted as a cure to everything from HIV to autism. The bleach solution — and, yes, it is bleach — is typically administered orally, but enemas and a bath are also encouraged procedures.

MMS caused a stir last year when police in the United Kingdom investigated parents for giving the solution to their children to cure them of Autism.

Meanwhile, in Canada, two individuals have been charged with selling MMS, despite warnings from the government.

The popularity of MMS can be largely attributed to Jim Humble, a cultish figure and ex-Scientologist who is part of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing.

Humble’s church has its roots in and around the Los Angeles area. Secretive groups in that area using MMS were apparently investigated as recently as 2016 by reporters.

Members of those groups believe that autism is caused by a multitude of factors, including viruses and bacteria in the body. Group members believe MMS kills off those pathogens and cures autism.

According to Humble, who says he discovered chlorine dioxide in 1996, the chemical destroys pathogens and poisons, allowing the body to heal itself naturally.

It’s an established scientific fact that bleach is bactericidal, hence its common use as a household and industrial cleaner.

But the practice of using MMS, particularly in children, has been met with collective shock, outside of the fringe groups that promote it.

Dr. Cyrus Rangan, a medical toxicologist and assistant medical director of the California Poison Control System said “This sort of practice has been around for some time and it just sort of crops up now and again when someone supposedly invents a new product that cures whatever disease they say it does,  Usually there’s no evidence for it, but they sort of prey on these families who are just looking for cures or treatments,”

“Any amount of bleach and any concentration of bleach is capable of causing a chemical burn, and so the bottom line is that there really shouldn’t be any exposure,” he said.

In short: consuming or bathing in bleach in any capacity is not a good idea and is extremely dangerous. That goes for enemas and other applications, which can lead to chemical burns on the skin and internal organs.

In my humble opinion this last idea is at least misguided and abusive at worst. It could be classed as grievous or actual bodily harm or attempted murder, and you have to wonder about the mindset of the parents or carers who inflict these kinds of “treatments” on youngsters in a vain attempt to cure someone who isn’t sick.

I’d like to take a moment to say a really big heartfelt thank-you, to you all for the love and support you’ve shown me over the last few months,

I took a very big personal risk in starting up a podcast based on autism and throwing my poetry in as well, but the latest numbers have really exploded, which made me feel that the project is worthwhile.

The sales figures for the first two weeks of my book, Scribblology V2, have also smashed those set by my first book. Again, this is down to you guys and I love you for that.

The weather is starting to warm up and, once again, we begin the annual ritual of turning the heating off and opening the windows all day, while sitting in the garden complaining about how it’s too hot and we’re melting. It’s time to put the winter wardrobe away and start digging out this summer collection to wow your peers while on the beach or by the pool.

This was the point that I looked at my summer wardrobe and thought that it could do with a little freshening up. Actually, truth be told it’s the same as it has been for years now – 3/4 length cargo shorts, geeky t shirts, and baseball caps. What can I say? I’m a creature of habit like most autistic people.

So I decided to go to our local department store to get some dazzling new clothes for my summer wardrobe and some treats from their amazing gluten free range of food stuff. It’s while I was dodging the usual old folks who were creeping round the store like a geriatric version of the walking dead, that I started looking at their summer line up and found I actually liked stuff that I wouldn’t normally think goes together, and colours that I wouldn’t normally wear either. By the time I left the clothes section to look at the food, we had bought quite a number of un-Bob-like bits, ranging from pink polo shirts to brightly coloured deck shoes!

It was only when I got home that I realized that I’m getting older – not necessarily wiser, but definitely older. In fact, if you’d told me six years ago I would be where I am in life now, and that I would have a beautiful granddaughter too, I would have not believed you. I’d have said something dumb about never getting old dudes or some other such saying.

The fact is I am getting older and I’m moving in much different social circles now. I also have a responsibility as a grandfather to keep up with, I’m not saying I’m not fun anymore, I’m just learning to dress appropriately too. Who knows what my summer wardrobe will be like in future years. I may be on the slippery slope to wearing socks and sandals, but I’m finally comfortable with that.

Stay Safe X