Becoming a Sensory Detective

Becoming a Sensory Detective, yellowreadis.com Image: Child covering their face

Whether your child has Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, or is Gifted/2e with mild to extreme OEs, dealing with sensory issues is going to be a part of life. But as a parent of a child with a different sensory profile, it can be difficult to understand why they are having problems, and it is also equally difficult to figure out what is causing the problems.

My own journey to becoming a sensory detective has taken time, observation and patience. It’s not easy understanding where the problem is when I can’t see, smell, touch, taste, or hear the same way as my children. One thing that helped me get my head around this idea was flowers. Yes, flowers. Continue reading “Becoming a Sensory Detective”

Gifted . . .You Know What That Means, Right?

Gifted...YOu KnowWhat That Means, Right? yellowreadis.com. Image: Neural network

Every now and again, more often than I am comfortable with, various memes pop up in my news feed. They’re usually positive, with a cute picture – a happy child, a beautiful baby, a rainbow over a lovely green field. Rinse and repeat.

Aww, Image: rainbow, cute baby, little girl

And you know what? I love the pictures. They’re cute, they make me go ‘awww’. But it’s not the picture that’s the problem. It’s the words.
Continue reading “Gifted . . .You Know What That Means, Right?”

Life Changing … Not Life Destroying

There’s a funny thing that happens with medical practitioners when labels change. A thing that took me by surprise, and not in a good way.

You see, in the last few weeks, I have had the very strange experience of being subjected to what I will call ‘shallow caring’. This is a strange phenomena where medical people metaphorically put their hand on my shoulder and imply that I am living a life that must be difficult, impossible and life destroying. It’s a strange and slightly humorous situation that always seems to end with the suggestion that my children would be far better off with professionals (read teachers) taking some of the ‘burden’ of raising my children.

But I think the part of this that I find most amusingly irritating, is that some of these are the same professionals with whom I have had to previously work hard at convincing that my children actually needed help. The difference? Labels, not behaviours. Continue reading “Life Changing … Not Life Destroying”

Tools to Tame the Rule Monster: A Review of Fluxx

Tools to Tame the Rule Monster: A Review of Fluxx, yellowreadis.com IMages: A game of Fluxx being played, boxes of different versions of Fluxx
 

It was a number of years before children that I was first introduced to Fluxx. A good friend brought the game out at a party (the kind of party where everyone ends up watching old Dr Who episodes until the early hours). I remember it being a blast, but didn’t really think about it again for many years.

Then my son fell in love with board and card games, and my DH remembered ‘this old game that was kind of cool’. We now have 4 different versions of the game and they get played regularly. It has become an essential part of our homeschool. Continue reading “Tools to Tame the Rule Monster: A Review of Fluxx”