thismomentinblackhistory: My dumbass kid can't compete academically and comes off as an asshole. Is he autistic? It would really help me sleep better at night knowing I have nothing to do with it.

Some kids are just dumb jerks. Sorry.

But you farkers told me autistic children are monsters and should be put to death and that autism doesn't exist.

Autistic kids don't give a fark about Santa.

thismomentinblackhistory: My dumbass kid can't compete academically and comes off as an asshole. Is he autistic? It would really help me sleep better at night knowing I have nothing to do with it.

"Yes, it is true that sometimes unusually intelligent and sensitive children can appear to be stupid. But stupid children can sometimes appear to be stupid as well. I think that's something you might have to consider."
-The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

I would never stoop to pander to the lowest common denominator that stories like this tend to bring out...

I only mention in passing that my line of

Stop Calling Me Rain Man!

t-shirts, hats, bibs and snuggies is available in holiday colors with free overnight shipping until December 23rd with purchases over $100 US.

/toothpicks, as always, are complimentary.

AcneVulgaris: Autistic kids don't give a fark about Santa.

Mine (5) hadn't so far. This year, I think from her cartoons, when she sees Christmas-y things she'll repeat "Christmas Santa Claus" a bit. She may or may not know that he is supposed to bring presents, we can't tell.

Normal 3-year-old is really getting into Christmas this year. Not bothering with a trip to Santa but he may want that next year...

Saborlas: neversubmit: But you farkers told me autistic children are monsters and should be put to death and that autism doesn't exist.

Much like ADHD, the disease exists but it's over-diagnosed for responsibility evasion.

/has ADHD
//it's like my brain is a TV and someone else has the remote
///ever open the fridge door and stand there like a fool, forgetting what you wanted? It's like that ALL THE TIME
////taking away recess for more standardized test study makes a kid fidgety but it certainly isn't the fault of the administrator who made that decision so it MUST be ADHD

How do you know it is over-diagnosed? I am not saying you are wrong, I just don't know that you are right. Excuses for not taking responsibility can be made up for anything.

on their way to jail.

Trance750: Saborlas: neversubmit: But you farkers told me autistic children are monsters and should be put to death and that autism doesn't exist.

Much like ADHD, the disease exists but it's over-diagnosed for responsibility evasion.

/has ADHD
//it's like my brain is a TV and someone else has the remote

Very ADHD, and when I was a child my parents went to a parent-teacher confrence and my teacher said I was 'rambunctious'

My father said 'Of course he is. He's a 7 year old boy. If you can't handle being around rambunctious children, you need to find another profession'

And the teacher said if you can't raise your child to behave you shouldn't be a parent.

Then what happened?

thismomentinblackhistory: My dumbass kid can't compete academically and comes off as an asshole. Is he autistic? It would really help me sleep better at night knowing I have nothing to do with it.

Bite me.

My kid with ASD is very talented academically. He taught himself to read at age 3. He scored a 97% on his Cogat, with a 99% in math. When we tested him one year above his age group, he still scored 99% in math.

His social skills and language skills suck ass, though. He stims a lot, too. We've managed to get him civilized through speech therapy and social skills training, and just constant "Oh, hell, no. You're not acting like that." parenting.

At this point, he's no weirder than the average math professor or many computer programmers. We're lucky that his ASD is mild. Other kids won't make as much progress as he has.

Most parents with kids on the spectrum work their asses off to help those kids. They search high and low for cures and solutions and therapies. You have no farking idea.

Seeking out a trained Santa so their kid can participate in a beloved holiday tradition without freaking out and frightening your precious little snowflake is a reasonable parenting approach.

Nice article, Subby - thanks for sharing. The picture in the article is cool.

No Chris. I still cannot get you a "Boyfriend-free girl to build from the ground up".


/If you get this, then you've been on the Internet for far too long.

Trance750: Perhaps over-diagnosed is not a good word. But it is over-medicated. Parents and teachers would rather have Snowflake or Junior pop a pill, than have to deal with them

The medication for autism would be what, exactly?

Jesus Christ, if there were some way to avoid dealing with my daughter, I'd already be doing it.

PsiChick: The rates really are going up for almost every mental problem across the board, from psychological to neurological. So some of it is just statistics.

For autism, we know it's pretty much all about increased diagnosis, not an actual increase in the number of autistics.

In the UK not long ago they took a big sample of people across all ages and applied the same autism diagnostic criteria to all of them. Rates were the same across all ages.

hippydippy: My kid with ASD is very talented academically. He taught himself to read at age 3. He scored a 97% on his Cogat, with a 99% in math. When we tested him one year above his age group, he still scored 99% in math.

His social skills and language skills suck ass, though. He stims a lot, too. We've managed to get him civilized through speech therapy and social skills training, and just constant "Oh, hell, no. You're not acting like that." parenting.

At this point, he's no weirder than the average math professor or many computer programmers. We're lucky that his ASD is mild. Other kids won't make as much progress as he has.

Most parents with kids on the spectrum work their asses off to help those kids. They search high and low for cures and solutions and therapies. You have no farking idea.

You're not kidding.

Until my daughter was diagnosed, I always figured it meant that a kid was practically catatonic. Mine was very energetic and could even talk, though the social use of language was difficult. She'd understand what a word or a sentence meant, but sometimes it was like a switch had been flipped and she wouldn't quite understand it as a whole. That being said, she's been well above her peers academically.

Looking back, if I'd known what to look for I'd have nailed it in a heartbeat-- the flapping and stimming were textbook and still are. When she was a toddler, she'd run from one end of the room to another and bounce from couch to couch like a pinball. (Have to say, though, that nothing is more precious to me than to see her flapping when she gets excited about something. It's pure joy.)

She always gets so emotional when we're in a store because she can hear the fluorescent lights buzzing, and she can't stand crowds. One of the things that caused problems for her was when she was on the playgrounds and the kids would crowd her (something I asked the teachers to please get a handle on and they didn't). She'd push them away or start screaming. Thankfully, she's learned to adapt since then. She still has to ask the school to let her go into the sensory room on occasion, but she doesn't freak out and start crawling into corners like she used to.

I know how hard it is as a parent. You're constantly judged and being told that your kid is fine and that you're just a bad parent. I've been there, done that, still doing. So *hugs*.

PsiChick: Gaseous Anomaly: PsiChick: The rates really are going up for almost every mental problem across the board, from psychological to neurological. So some of it is just statistics.

For autism, we know it's pretty much all about increased diagnosis, not an actual increase in the number of autistics.

In the UK not long ago they took a big sample of people across all ages and applied the same autism diagnostic criteria to all of them. Rates were the same across all ages.

*shrugs* I'm repeating my psych teacher here, but yes, better diagnostic tools would account for it. Doesn't mean the cases aren't real. I know my mom loves citing a case about South Korea where they found this insane rates of high-functioning Asperger's in kids who their parents thought were 'just strange'.

/Which was the moment when I realized a good deal of parents were apparently idiots.

Oh, I didn't think you were claiming it wasn't real. I don't either, I live with a real case.

Apropos of parents being idiots, Mrs. Anomaly felt guilty for a while for not seeing the signs (before age 2.5 or so). My position was that the ability to have unprotected sex did not make us child development experts.