Marking the end of AutismAwareness month with our top posts

It's the end of World Autism Awareness Month.  Along with millions of people worldwide, I am, always, hopeful that the week will help highlight what autism is and is not and how fabulous people with autism (like two of my kids) are and also how challenging life can be for them and those who care for them sometimes.   The hope is that awareness leads to acceptance - that's the real goal. So here's my top five autism awareness posts from my blog.

1.  See that odd kid in the restaurant, at the museum, cinema or pool?  What are they doing and why don't they act normal? They may be doing a brilliant job and instead of your stares could just do with a bit of understanding.

Not so sure? Have a look at this post that's got plenty from other bloggers about when their autistic child does this.. what it actually means is... 

2. Look out for that lunatic child in the playground.  Err, maybe not.  I'm watching my kids way more than you'd think.  I'm aware they look a bit odd but think about what you are saying or portraying by your words and actions please. Autism isn't catching you know and autistic people are not people to avoid.

Read, you don't need to shield your kids from my autistic children.

3.  Has your kids had a meltdown recently?  No I mean a real meltdown, where your child would rather die than have life continue in it's present state.  If you don't think there's a difference, why not see how it feels to watch my son have a meltdown and see what you think.

See how his life falls apart because his sister doesn't have bother her shoes on.

4.  Not sure how to put autism awareness and acceptance into practice?  You can do it everywhere!  Here's some examples though in my post on five places you can understand autistic kids and their families.

5. There's been a lot in the media recently about kids and screen time. I heard on the radio just the other day that kids should be limited to an hour of screen time a day.  If this works for most that's fine but our autistic kids need their screen time. I can't imagine what life would have been like or what they would have done without it.

If you've seen a kid attached to an iPad and judged, please check out my post on why my autistic son spends hours playing on his iPad.  It might help you understand what they mean to some kids.  It's my my read post and possibly so because it resonates with so many.

It's often the case that people don't see the part of Anthony that's amazing brave, or the parts of David when he shows ultimate joy. But hopefully by being aware of their autism, you may understand their odd behaviours and actions and get to see them as they are.. truly wonderful kids.