The Barkers and The Colored Balloons
Today, while getting a root canal, I had a lot of time to think. A friend had told me to listen to music while it was going on, and so I brought my tunes along. I knew that would be risky because I am susceptible to music mush, where I hear a song and it takes me right back to a memory, kneading my heart like bread dough. But I have never been one to avoid certain emotional swamps, and so I went, because it would be better than watching bits of my tooth dust fly out of my mouth.
I say I am an emotion explorer, but that is actually not always true. Sometimes I avoid like crazy, so much so that I turn to stupid destructive b...
Source: Susan's Blog - January 18, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
A Ramp for Nat: Job Coaching for ASD & the Intellectually Disabled
I received this internship posting today, and I was reminded of what my grandma used to say about my brief visits to her down in Florida: “It’s only a crumb, but I’ll take it.”
First of all, let me say that the Lurie Center, who offers this posting, is an excellent, forward-thinking bastion of autism knowledge, compassion, support, training, and all the things we families with ASD look for. But the fact of this offering got me thinking about portions and crumbs, and having a seat at the table.
JOB INTERNSHIP PROGRAM for young adults ages 18-30 on the AUTISM SPECTRUM offered at the Massachusett...
Source: Susan's Blog - January 13, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Check Out Jewish Family and Children Services of Combined Jewish Philanthropies
Here is a workshop up in Danvers, Massachusetts that would really benefit families with disabilities. Jewish Family and Children Services is a branch of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and they do excellent presentations, very pragmatic and down-to-earth. They also have day programs and they create housing all over the state. Betsy Closs, who is leading the workshop, is a dynamo, who knows everything about housing for our guys. They are limiting the workshop to 12 so RSVP quickly.
Even if you don’t go to the workshop, you should consider contacting them to learn about their many helpful programs.
Understanding Housin...
Source: Susan's Blog - January 8, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Approaching Autism Adulthood: What to do first
I was talking to an autism mom the other day while our sons practiced on their Special Olympics basketball team, when I realized I had three other parents waiting to talk to me. Suddenly I’m a wise woman simply because my autistic son is now an adult. We have passed through the Inferno gate of Adult Services but unlike Dante’s, we have not abandoned hope.
But hope was in short supply that Saturday morning. Hot anxiety rose from these parents like steam from a kettle. They rifled through their bags and pockets for something to write on, to take down what I was saying. Every few sentences, one of them would stop ...
Source: Susan's Blog - January 7, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Family Feast
We all have to eat, so I figured I might as well make it fun. For Chanukah, Max had given me the Game of Thrones Cookbook: A Feast of Ice and Fire, and so far everything I’d made from it has been delicious. Our whole family loves the HBO series Game of Thrones, and Max and I have read all five of the George R.R. Martin books and loved them even more. In case you have been living somewhere far away, like across the Narrow Sea, you must know about the phenomenon that is Game of Thrones. It is a fantasy version of the Yorks vs. the Lancasters, set in fictitious Westeros. The loyal and true Starks and the scheming and ...
Source: Susan's Blog - January 6, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
What is Empathy?
From Dictionary.com:
Empathy: the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.
The other day in my favorite bookstore, I came upon a paperback by Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen, The Science of Evil. I have not read the book, but in the New York Times Book Review in June of 2011, Katherine Bouton writes: “The Science of Evil, by Simon Baron-Cohen, seems likely to antagonize the victims of evil, the parents of children with autism spectrum disorder…” Baron-Cohen is in some ways the Bettelheim of the Modern Autism Era (1989-present) because he is the ...
Source: Susan's Blog - January 2, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
My Four New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s Rezzies:
1) Stop doing that bad thing
2) Start that hard thing
3) Decide to become that other thing
4) Work on that dream thing
–Susan Senator 12/31/12 (Source: Susan's Blog)
Source: Susan's Blog - January 1, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
