Surviving the System: Autistics Speaking Day

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Autistics Speaking Day

So, yesterday (11/01) was "Autistics Speaking Day". You can read more here and here. The basic theme, to my mind, is to reinforce the idea that the autistic community, especially autistic adults, should be the first party to talk when the topic is autism support and autism research.

I respect that idea and I value this expression. On the other hand, msk is just not at a point where he can speak up for himself. I don't think I'm underestimating him, it's just that questions and speech and listening to people talk, especially about him are not his strong points. In fact, I'd say they irk him to the point of pain.

On the other hand, I have a video from a few years ago of a composition that he made up and let me video. It's all about numbers and chord progressions.

I'll see if some time this month I can get msk to type an entry and let me load it onto this blog. Or at least a newer video where you can hear that his voice has changed.

1 comment:

AnonymousNovember 2, 2011 at 9:12 PM
Cool song (speaking as a lover of numbers)! Thanks for sharing.
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About this blog

This will be anonymous because schools can be pretty political, but hopefully constructive. My eldest child entered Kindergarten 16 years ago and I figure I've got another 4.5 years until my youngest finishes. By this fall between the three children we've been enrolled in eight different schools. There have been CST meetings, IEP meetings, PTO meetings, PTA meetings, fund raisers and vast quantities of homework. We are in public schools because we believe that justice starts with a decent free education for all and if I want decent public education being personally involved is the first step.

Glossary and Acronym List

Autism Spectrum - the spread of behaviors that define autistics. The primary areas are difficulties with communication, social interactions and change/lack of order. You can see the official diagnosis criteria here.
CST - Child Support Team, a group (including parents) that meets when a student is having difficulties
ESY - Extended School Year. In our experience, related to special needs kids who go to school over breaks because there will be significant regression in skills over the break if they weren't in a school setting.
FAPE - Free Appropriate Public Education. This is the right of every American child, but is usually a term about creating or finding a learning environment that works for a special needs student.
IEP - Individualized Education Plan. A written plan of goals and ways to achieve them. Typically for special needs students
PTO & PTA - Parent Teacher Organization & Association
SST - Student Support Team, I guess this is the new term that replaces CST