Mrs Speechie P

What does neuro-affirming *actually* mean in practice?

As always- people can give general ideas about what is neurodiversity affirming- however, the key to this is that it’s individualized. What’s affirming for one person may not be affirming to the next, and as parents and clinicians, we need to keep this in mind ❤️

Autistic kids are often missed (or misdiagnosed), and if I had to pick a number one reason, it would be that autism was dismissed because a person is socially motivated and friendly.

But Autistic people CAN be socially motivated and friendly. It’s not social = not autistic and asocial= autistic. When considering Autism, it’s HOW people are social. Which gets tricky, especially when people don’t know what they are looking for.

Other reasons many kids go undiagnosed:
• They internalize struggles and are quiet or “well behaved at school,” or like me, was viewed as the star student and teachers pet
• Smart kids and gifted kids can be (and are often) Autistic
• Kids who have inconsistent support needs- this can vary from day to day or setting to setting. Often Autistic kids do best in comfortable, familiar, and predictable environments
• Kids who already have a diagnosis which results in adults not looking deeper (ie ADHD, ID, Down syndrome, genetic disorders, anxiety, OCD, SPD, delayed communication, learning disorders, dyslexia, etc)
• Kids with high connection needs- seeking constant adult attention in an excessive or intense manner is actually a common autism trait, but people “rule out” autism because it’s socially based
• Kids who are hyper-verbal, spoke early, or talk a lot
• Kids who are highly in tune with emotions and have deep empathy - can still be autistic, and if it’s especially intense, is actually common in Autism

What would you add? ⤵️

Some kids LOVE answering questions and chatting.

For other kids, especially those with delayed/difficulty with communication, being asked tons of questions is overwhelming.

Notice a child becoming overwhelmed by, ignoring, or uncomfortable with questions? That’s okay! You can model the language or make comments instead! This gives kids a low-pressure opportunity to learn communication skills, make connections, and speak if they are able/want to.

Some Autism traits are well known and overgeneralized while others are less known and often subtle differences.

Autism is a combination of characteristics and not just 1-2 traits. While almost everyone will have something in common with Autistic people, actually autistic people will have patterns of differences in social communication and interests and routines.

Here are how these lesser known traits are categorized:

Social communication:
Stereotypes: non-speaking, socially avoidant
Nonstereotypical differences: difficulty understanding abstract language and concepts (such as time concepts, pronouns, prepositions), flat affect/ exaggerated facial expressions or body language, advanced communication skills, socially motivated but different in *how* they socialize

Interests & routines:
Stereotypical: only likes one thing, extremely distressed with all changes in routine
Non-stereotypical/lesser known: collecting items (and often not using said items for play or other purpose), difficulty transitioning before previous task is complete (or if previous task is not “perfect”), strong sense of direction on roads (tied to memory skills and routines, can also be the opposite for many 🤣), and carries a comfort item everywhere

This area also includes sensory differences such as: holding hands out or shaping body in tight or unusual ways, running fingers along the hall walls, discomfort in crowds, high or low pain tolerance

Differences in Autism can vary from person to person and an autistic person may have all of the differences in this visual, or non of the differences in this visual. But all autistic people will have *some* differences in social communication and interest and routines.

I missed SLP day yesterday (the irony after how much I’ve complained about not being recognized 🤣🤣) - so today I’m going to make up for it by sharing pros and cons of most SLP work settings. Both for upcoming grads and also for those of us who are burned out and in need of a change.

I even added my own pros and cons for being a social media creator/presenter at the end. (Although I don’t really have cons for presenting, I love it so much!).

Did I miss your setting or a pro or con of your setting? Let us know! ⤵️

Autism is genetic- but that doesn’t mean it will present the same way from sibling to sibling (or parent to child).

In fact, it’s very common for multiple siblings to be Autistic, but one to get diagnosed (in general, or one gets diagnosed much earlier than others). It’s usually the kids who externalize traits, struggles, and emotions and/or fit stereotypical traits who get diagnosed early. And then internalizers/maskers to go without support or without an accurate diagnosis.

The truth is, both of these kids would likely benefit from support and the ability to understand their neurology.

Autism is a spectrum, and while it is comprised of differences in social communication and interests and routines, the way people can experience those differences is vast.

While I personally don’t like to give “levels” (see Oliver for a great example of why!) - I wanted to use them for this example to highlight that while some kids might need more intense supports, many of those supports are similar across profiles. I also wanted to highlight some common misconceptions among the profiles.

NeuroAffirmX is tomorrow, and I’ve got the live schedule for you! Times are PT to help you plan!

I’ll be talking about autism in girls/non-stereotypical presentations, with SO many amazing topics and presenters to learn from!

Want to attend, but can’t catch it live? There’s a VIP option for on demand access.

Comment LINK and I’ll get you the info for your free ticket!