For My Autistic Child

My Autistic child will grow up in a household where AAC is just a part of life. She will see computers being used for AAC from birth, or close to it. How could she not? I use my iPad or computer for communication on a regular basis, even with people who are in the room with me. She will have access to a computer that has AAC programs on it well before she is talking, unless, of course, she manages to start talking at six months or some such thing. It happens. If so, she'll still have access, and she will still be taught how to use them. Picture based AAC will be how we start, I suspect, since infants generally don't know how to read. One button talkers with things like "potty" and "juice" will be set up in relevant locations, probably before she can crawl anyways. AAC won't be an accommodation, it will just be a part of how the house is set up. People might be bragging today about getting devices or picture card sets into the hands of eighteen month olds, but I will beat that. I am seriously saying that there will be simple applications, simple devices, in my Autistic child's reach before even today's best tests could tell that she is Autistic. (She will have the same access if she's not actually Autistic, but I am guessing that I will have Autistic kids because genetics is a thing.) 

Flapping, rocking, and spinning will be accepted. I would be such a hypocrite if they weren't. If a food is a sensory issue, that's that. She won't have to eat it. I know what trying to swallow things that are sensory issues is like, I wouldn't force that on anyone. Eye contact will be strictly optional. I wouldn't be able to tell if she was making it anyways, since I don't look at eyes. Anyone who tries to tell her "Quiet hands!" will be summarily removed from the house. Fidget toys will be around the house. Perseveration will be accepted and encouraged as the learning style that it is. 

My home will not be a place which claims to accept autism and Autistic people, then has posters around which make it clear that being Autistic is not ok. My home will be a place where autism is assumed as the default, and envy one else will have to adjust to Autistic needs. Even if I do not live in Autistic House, it will still be an Autistic home.