I have had a lot of teachers throughout my life. Some taught me because they were paid to, some because they were supposed to, and some because they wanted to. Many of the best teachers in my life, though, had no idea that they were teaching me. (Or, perhaps more accurately, that I was learning [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, awareness, Life, parentingEvery now and then when I’m out with friends, or introducing myself to someone new, the topic of conversation winds its way around to autism. Sometimes the person knows someone who has an autistic child/niece/nephew/etc, or maybe they have an autistic child themselves. Since I am the parent of an autistic son they ask me [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, awareness, Life, parentingEvery year when April – otherwise known as Autism Awareness Month – rolls around, I ask myself, “Awareness? Awareness of what exactly?” In the past I have often forgotten my own advice and tried to find a “one-size-fits-all” answer to the question. (My advice: there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all for anything.) Some years [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, awareness, parentingBack in April I wrote a post titled Different is the new normal. In that article I looked at “normal” and “different” in the cultural sense; this is the primary context in which most people put this discussion. It occurred to me a week or so ago, though, that it would be interesting to see [...]
Also tagged 2.0, Asperger's Syndrome, autism, awareness, DIfferent, LifeA while back I had lunch with an old friend, and the topic of conversation wound its way to autism. I, of course, am the parent of an autistic son. As it turns out, his nephew is also autistic. He wanted to understand autism, and I wanted to help him understand. But I didn’t know [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, awareness, parentingA few years ago, a friend asked me the question: “If someone told you there was a pill you could give your son that would cure his autism overnight, would you give it to him?” Sounds like an easy question, right? I hadn’t really thought much about it for some time, as it had been [...]
Also tagged autism, awareness, Life, parentingThe following ties in well with my recent post Parents should be leaders (not managers) and my overall theme for Autism Awareness Month, so I’m reposting it in its entirety. I first posted this in April of 2008. – – — — —– What would you think if your friend/neighbor/sibling told you that they had [...]
Also tagged autism, awareness, leadership, learning, Life, parentingDuring his New Year’s Day seminar, author Dan Pink shared five trends that he is following in 2010. In the science category, the trend he is keeping an eye on is dysfunction is high function. During the discussion he referenced the Atlantic Monthly article The Science of Success, which considers the possible “up-side” of genetic [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, awareness, Life, Mastery, passionI found this bit of wisdom in the book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. Though geared at self improvement, this quote struck a chord with me as a parent: The trick is not to work obsessively on the skills and talents you lack, but to focus and cultivate your strengths so that your weaknesses matter [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, awareness, Life, parentingSeth Godin doesn’t write about autism, and yet much of what he writes and says comes across as if it were written just for the parents of an autistic child. Today’s article – Accepting limits – from his blog is a perfect example (emphasis is mine): Isn’t it absurd to focus so much energy on [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, awareness, Life, parenting
