Autism is really a mysterious and overwhelming disease. It can try to take over your life and show the world many different faces. If you see a child with the face of an angel, laughing the sweetest and most contagious laugh while having "far-away-eyes", is hard to imagine that the same child can be screaming and crying for "no apparent reason" two minutes later.
That is what Autism can do. It can disturb your body so much that the sensations and interpretation of what goes in the body plus what goes out in the environment can cause a great gamma of feelings.
In the "Autism World" you can find the term "stims" coming from "stimulating behaviors" that an individual with autism can engage into an that can really make evident that person has autism (let's stop using the term autistic, please - not politically correct).
Stimming can include:
- flapping hands/fingers
- closing eyes
- spinning in circles
- covering ears
- loud vocalizations
and many other behaviors that can be extremely dangerous when they involve self-injurious aggressions.
What can you do?
If you ever are in the presence of a child engaging in behaviors that can be misunderstood as "tantrums" or "spoiled", please be sympathetic. Don't stare, don't judge and don't try to give simple solutions. The parents of a child with autism having a bad episode, probably feel bad as it is. Share a positive thought, a silent prayer, a heartfelt smile: good energies can really help!
No comments:
Post a Comment