Greetings

[Andromeda Fish]

Hello, everyone.

I am Marie, a 33 year old female. I am pretty new to the Asperger's/Autism idea. I started researching when a friend was diagnosed this spring, and I've come to conclusion from that research and various tests that I am on the spectrum. I am hesitant to go through the process of seeing a psychiatrist to obtain an official diagnosis. I guess I'm still in a phase of learning more to find where I fit.

Other than that, I am a homeschooling mom to two girls, 13 & 8. My academic background is in history and philosophy. I also do a bit of permaculture-inspired homesteading, with a vegetable garden and 10 hens. When I leave my rural house for the city, I am active in an area UU congregation.

I look forward to meeting people here and learning more.

Thanks for reading,
Marie

 

[Warmheart]

Hi Marie! Welcome here.

 

[Katleya]

Welcome, Marie, to a community where you will, without a doubt, learn so much and find help processing your new discoveries. I hope we can support you on that path

 

[Nitro]

 

[Gritches]

Welcome!

 

[Dadwith2Autisticsons]

Hello, everyone.

I am Marie, a 33 year old female. I am pretty new to the Asperger's/Autism idea. I started researching when a friend was diagnosed this spring, and I've come to conclusion from that research and various tests that I am on the spectrum. I am hesitant to go through the process of seeing a psychiatrist to obtain an official diagnosis. I guess I'm still in a phase of learning more to find where I fit.

Other than that, I am a homeschooling mom to two girls, 13 & 8. My academic background is in history and philosophy. I also do a bit of permaculture-inspired homesteading, with a vegetable garden and 10 hens. When I leave my rural house for the city, I am active in an area UU congregation.

I look forward to meeting people here and learning more.

Thanks for reading,
Marie

Hi. Welcome to the group. I am sort of learning where I fit too, in terms of diagnosis, as I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder and have some OCD tendencies, but relate a lot to ASD as I have had severe shyness traits, avoidancy issues of others and am not the most comfortable letting out certain emotional feelings verbally. As well, my wife and I have two Autistic boys, an eight year old and five year old.

We are homeschooling parents, and our older son loves Math and Science the best. He is very functional now after earlier language delays and severe sensory eating issues. He is doing very fine now. He loves his routines. Our younger son is mostly nonverbal. He has hyperactive issues besides his Autism. He does not follow any direction, and needs help getting all his needs met. He though is a smart, happy child.

Both my wife and I love the country life. I always lived in rural areas, whereas she grew up in a big city before marriage eleven years ago. Neither my wife and I are very religious, so I considered a few years ago looking into a UU congregation, as I knew they were less conservative and more open minded. But, we have been so busy the past few years, and our two sons would be very bored or screaming at such a place.

Anyways, we hope you find lots of answers here, and persons you relate too. There are lots of nice people here.

 

[OkRad]

Welcome! I love that you love history. What is your favourite time period? I studied Classics (Greek and Roman, Languages and Literature)..... Love it so much.

 

[Andromeda Fish]

Hi. Welcome to the group. I am sort of learning where I fit too, in terms of diagnosis, as I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder and have some OCD tendencies, but relate a lot to ASD as I have had severe shyness traits, avoidancy issues of others and am not the most comfortable letting out certain emotional feelings verbally. As well, my wife and I have two Autistic boys, an eight year old and five year old.

We are homeschooling parents, and our older son loves Math and Science the best. He is very functional now after earlier language delays and severe sensory eating issues. He is doing very fine now. He loves his routines. Our younger son is mostly nonverbal. He has hyperactive issues besides his Autism. He does not follow any direction, and needs help getting all his needs met. He though is a smart, happy child.

Both my wife and I love the country life. I always lived in rural areas, whereas she grew up in a big city before marriage eleven years ago. Neither my wife and I are very religious, so I considered a few years ago looking into a UU congregation, as I knew they were less conservative and more open minded. But, we have been so busy the past few years, and our two sons would be very bored or screaming at such a place.

Anyways, we hope you find lots of answers here, and persons you relate too. There are lots of nice people here.

I find your description quite relatable. I have also been told that I have OCD tendencies and social anxiety. As I've been learning more, I'm coming to think that the reason neither of those quite fit has to do with being autistic.

I often wonder about my older daughter, though I'm relatively confident that my younger is NT. They are both avid readers, which makes my job much easier.

My decision to take the first aspire related test actually came from a training that our UU church did for our educators. Our educators have really made it a priority to create an experience that is welcoming to those on the spectrum, including a sensory/fidget table during service and creating a better environment during story and play time. I can't speak to any other congregations, though.

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Welcome! I love that you love history. What is your favourite time period? I studied Classics (Greek and Roman, Languages and Literature)..... Love it so much.

I specialized in European history in undergrad, with a particular interest in Medieval Europe, pre-revolutionary Russia, and social history in general. Classics were a big interest for a time, but I arrived right when the Classics prof retired.
In more recent years, I've gotten into family history. This leads me to some rather quirky areas of interest, like the pre-1880 history of Meigs County, Ohio. I never cared the slightest bit about US history before that - most of my interests were based on whatever got glossed over in school.

 

[Dadwith2Autisticsons]

I find your description quite relatable. I have also been told that I have OCD tendencies and social anxiety. As I've been learning more, I'm coming to think that the reason neither of those quite fit has to do with being autistic.

I often wonder about my older daughter, though I'm relatively confident that my younger is NT. They are both avid readers, which makes my job much easier.

My decision to take the first aspire related test actually came from a training that our UU church did for our educators. Our educators have really made it a priority to create an experience that is welcoming to those on the spectrum, including a sensory/fidget table during service and creating a better environment during story and play time. I can't speak to any other congregations, though.

Thank you for the warm welcome!

I have never totally ruled out Autism for me, yet it is ironic I scored very low on an online Autism test, but my wife scored very high. And yet outwardly I appear more on the Spectrum than her. I guess her ADHD issues made her score high. So, test results can "sometimes" be misleading, too.

Our oldest son loves reading, and learning in all ways, and he seems self-motivated there. Our youngest rather chew on books or tear them apart, so he learns a lot through his IPad apps, educational DVDs, through floortime activities, and naturally through our other attempts.

It sounds great that the UU congregation is child and Autistic friendly like that. One day I would like to learn more about the one in our area, to see if they are the same in terms of special relaxing and fun services for children like our sons and others like them.

 

[Andromeda Fish]

I have never totally ruled out Autism for me, yet it is ironic I scored very low on an online Autism test, but my wife scored very high. And yet outwardly I appear more on the Spectrum than her. I guess her ADHD issues made her score high. So, test results can "sometimes" be misleading, too.

Our oldest son loves reading, and learning in all ways, and he seems self-motivated there. Our youngest rather chew on books or tear them apart, so he learns a lot through his IPad apps, educational DVDs, through floortime activities, and naturally through our other attempts.

It sounds great that the UU congregation is child and Autistic friendly like that. One day I would like to learn more about the one in our area, to see if they are the same in terms of special relaxing and fun services for children like our sons and others like them.

I could see where ADHD would lead to a higher score in some areas. It seems to me that there is a commonality there in the effects on bodily movement and executive function. One spot that I am consistently low on is questions related to movement: I am as still as possible in many situations because it reduces sensory input for me. One of my favored coping mechanisms is being secretary in social activities, which allows me to focus on a fixed line of sight, and fidgeting with a pen is not a very noticeable fidget. Gross motor fidgets can overwhelm me quickly.

I like the ways that you have redirected your younger son's work. Not to go into educational theory too much, but I'm personally of the mindset of "better late than early" in most educational aspects, particularly reading. I feel happy when I hear about parents who are able to help their kids learn and grow with a focus on the child's development rather than a dehumanized checklist.

Regarding the UU congregation... I can't say how much it has helped me. I went from 7 years of being a hermit to me and my kids having friends. One of the ministers was the first non-family person I "came out" to, and she actually reassured me that some people are my friends and not just being nice. I would recommend calling and asking if your local group has developed similar resources - granted, calling on the phone is a thing I would never do because I'd have to agonize and write a whole script to do it - but just a thought.

And thanks again for welcoming me here!

 

[Streetwise]

 

[xudo]

Welcome

 

[tree]