What if they're stimming with the device?

In response to the fact that it is not OK to take someone's communication device away, ever, apparently it is common to ask, what if the person is stimming and (we assume) that's interfering with communication.

There are a few points I want to make in response to that. Some I've seen elsewhere. Some, less so.

• What would you do if a kid was vocally stimming, with their natural voice, and you thought that was impeding their communication? Still not taking away their voice, right? Even if you think they're doing something noncommunicative with their voice, you're still taking their voice in that example. Never means never. (This is mentioned in the PrAACtical AAC post, but it was also my immediate gut reaction.)
  
• Or what would you do if you heard me stimming with my AAC device? Cause yeah, I'm an adult and you know I can communicate and all, but I do that sometimes. Would you consider taking my device? I'm kind of assuming it's a no there because the idea that you might try is a bit too scary for me to look at right now, but why wouldn't you do that to me, if you would to them? (This is somewhat an explanation to my immediate gut reaction.)
  
• Keep in mind that communicative echolalia is a thing. In my experience ... yeah, sometimes repeating words or sounds because it feels good is a thing but there's often a meaning. (pickles pickles pickles pickles pickles resulted in my getting pickles, in college. It was also stimmy, as a side bonus.) For those looking for citations on the communicative functions of echolalia, Barry Prizant did some work on that (Prizant & Duchan, 1981; Prizant & Rydell, 1984). I don't trust him on the whole, remember my reactions to Uniquely Human, but communicative functions of echolalia is a useful thing he did.
  
• Echolalia, repeating words and phrases is also how a lot of autistic people learn language in the first place. The thing that is how we learn language is not actually a barrier to communication and if this is what's going on, your assumption that this is a barrier to communication is just wrong. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
  
• Also, is the babbling stage a thing with AAC use? Cause it usually is with oral speech and it's not successful communication yet but it has to happen in order to get to successful communication later. Exploring language and using it in unexpected ways is part of learning language. (This shows up in the PrAACtical AAC post.)
  
• Stimming is great. I am usually stimming in some way. It's not usually vocal because that's just not what tends to work for me, but I am usually stimming. Hence, fidget spinners and blanket pieces. The fact that a person is, in fact, stimming does not mean you should stop them from doing whatever it is they're doing to stim. Suggesting alternative ways of stimming can be OK under some circumstances, but seriously, "they're stimming" doesn't mean "they should stop." Similarly, "it's echolalia" doesn't mean "they should stop."

Academicy Citations

Prizant, B. M., & Duchan, J. F. (1981). The functions of immediate echolalia in autistic children. Journal of speech and hearing disorders, 46(3), 241-249.
Prizant, B. M., & Rydell, P. J. (1984). Analysis of functions of delayed echolalia in autistic children. Journal of speech and hearing research, 27(2), 183-192.

A Few of My Favorite Things

So the wonderful Corbett has asked me if I had a list of my favorite things anywhere. (I met her at SDS, she's awesome. Also she totally cited me in an academic article. I think that's the first time I've been cited.)
So, I'm a daily blogger and always need more thing to blog. Which means I'm doing it. (BTW, you can ask me questions. I've got an "Ask me things" page in the sidebar, comments enabled and everything, and the Yes, That Too Facebook page takes messages. Also sidebar linked.)

1. ECHOLALIA. Echolalia is fun. Ladle is like, one of the best echolalia words out there. For real, I love it and it is win. So I like to say "ladle!"
2. Bacon! I like bacon. I really like bacon. It is yummy, and yes, I have just taken a plate full of bacon instead of going up again and again for my two or three socially acceptable pieces at a time. I don't care. Also, bacon is revenge. Story of why here, long story short an 800lb pig thought I would make a good lunch.
3. Soft blankets with satin bindings. I stim with the satin bindings, they feel great between my fingers or toes. It's a great way to fidget and to calm down, I even have a jacket made from this sort of blanket that people mistook for pajamas at SDS.
4. The color purple. Actual color, not the book by that name. It is my favorite color, always has been. 
5. Singing. I'm a tenor second/baritone, and it is fun. I can sing two notes at once, too, but it doesn't sound awesome. It sounds kind of like a harmonica or a train whistle, the interval was between a minor and major tenth when we tested it about four years ago. I was in tenor bass choir for two years. Yes, my name is Alyssa. Yes, I was assigned female at birth. No, I have never been on hormones. I'm just a tenor second. I don't know either.
6. Ultimate Frisbee, I've actually talked about it a few times, both with my college team and helping out at the elementary school I went to for a year. It's the only real "team" sport I play. I root for the Boston Whitecaps, in case you were curious.
7. Computers. There are a few reasons, including internet, AAC usability, writing (I can't read my own handwriting,) and generally tech-geekiness.
8. Swimming. That's another thing I used to do competitively. I swam whatever I was put in, really, but I preffered the 100 butterfly and the 200 individual medly. First time I swam the 200 IM, I got one of my hospital stories out of it.
9. Blogging. I think it belongs on the list considering the sheer number of blogs I have acquired at least contributor access to. Autism Experts, We Are Like Your Child, Autistics Speaking Day, Autism Positivity... some of these I have access to on multiple platforms, generally Blogspot/Wordpress and Tumblr. And then there are things like Allism Speaks and Aspie Alligator, plus I wrote a blog post for ASAN once.
10. BOOKS. I am a bookworm. I don't always get to read much because I know that starting a book means finishing it ASAP and don't always have time to do so and still get everything done, but I still read a good bit, both for pleasure and for academic reasons.

FINALLY the last of NaPoWriMo

Here's the last of them.


Reflecting

What can I reflect on, 

What should I think about?

Do I think on impairment?

Do I think on a label now one year old?

Do I reflect on the fear I've been told I must feel?

On the things I've been told I can't do?

No.

I reflect on understanding what has changed and what has not.

I reflect on a world that can not comprehend "Autistic" as a word to claim.

I reflect on a world not made for me.

I reflect on how to remake the world to fit us, we who do not fit today.

Positivity

I am positive.

I am positive that this is ausome.

I am positive that I am tired. 

I am positive that this is worth the spoons it costs.

One day.

One day to remember the rainbows.

One day to reflect (and perhaps to refract) so I can create my own.

 

Echolalia Gets Me Pickles
 

Pickles and ice cream and olives
And pepperoni.
This is what echolalia gets me.
Not once have I been misunderstood.
I see no reason to change.
Not when echolalia gets me pickles.

Laaaaaadle

Ladle is a fun word, have some echolalia mixed with ladles. Also known as "Alyssa is echolalic sometimes, and mixed echoladling (echolalia of ladle) with songs sometimes."

I have a little ladle,
I made it out of steel,
I have a little ladle,
It needs to help me deal!


I have a little ladle,
I made it out of dreidles,
And when it's dry and ready,
Oh dreidle I shall ladle.


I'm a laaaaadle to you,
I laaaaaaadle to you,
Yes I'm a ladle to you.


Do rhymes with clue!
Do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue do clue....
(My friend who was watching as I rocked, flapped, and repeated do clue probably about that many times maybe more, commented that we should record that and inform every parent who wanted a gifted kid that this is what they were volunteering for. Which is amusing. And kind of true, since they only specified gifted, not that the kid had to be just gifted and nothing else.)


Some things are meant to ladle,
Some things mean more than they ladled to meee
Last year was incomplete,
This game will end the same unless I ladle,
Found the ladle frame,
No ladles there just a lonely spoon,
If I still felt the same it'd be a ladle....


None of the songs I modified are originally mine. Two are old PONS songs (like, from when their website was on mypodcast.com kind of old,) two are variations of the dreidle song. 

Autistic Emily?

I read Questionable Content, and today I want to talk about a character from there who I think might be autistic. Unless the Questionable Content universe is a lot better about autistic people than we are today, I doubt that she knows she's autistic, but I think she is.

No, this isn't about "being a jerk," like so many people use to armchair-diagnose people. She is socially clueless at times, but she is nice. See "socially inept and mean are two different things."

I'm pretty sure she's sensory seeking. She beat out dozens of other applicants for an apparently competitive library internship so she could sniff old books, and admitted as much pretty openly (2207.) She has also played with both Martin's (2320) and Claire's hair (2360.)

She also has some echolalic tendencies, repeating the word "muskrat" over and over on one occasion (2302) and repeating "fluffy" during her sensory seeking with Claire's hair (2360.) She has also repeated Tai verbatim (2317*.) One of the earlier clues, though, was that the highlight of her first day was the banana smoothie, and she said so using just the noun, "Banana smoothie" (2213.) She does the same when she is excited about the banana smoothie being brought to her (2282,) and the illustration suggests that she was clapping in anticipation.

Also in the area of language, she seems to take things literally and have some possible difficulty telling when people are joking (2253.) Her sense of humor also seems to include a very active imagination (2361) and puns based on literal interpretations, such as "arms races" (2368.)

There are other comics she appears in where her behavior may or may not fall under the umbrella of stimming, and it would take the ability to ask her questions directly to be sure about this. These include her poking Momo's belly button to cause her hair to change color (2250.)

Beyond simple stimming, there is some Autistic body language, such as continuing to use clapping to mean happiness into adulthood, outside the context of applause (2282, 2288,2295, 2329) and what might be lifting her arms to flap as she begins to laugh (2368.)

Finally, while many autistic people can and do lie, Emily does have the specific kind of honesty I have noticed to be very common in autistic people- correcting people on their "white lies" (2242) and admitting to reasoning behind decisions that most neurotypicals consider best left unmentioned (2207.)

And I won't deny it- she can be clueless and weird, and she apparently does have social troubles outside the rather accepting bunch forming Questionable Content's main circle (2298.) In the first strip where we meet her, on her first day of work, she asks for permission to goof off with the boss (2203.) She was also very excited to have a banana smoothie that was just a banana smashed with a hammer (2210) and seems to make a habit of having this sort of smoothie (2241, 2273,2282). She also suggested using a fellow library employee (robot) as a battering ram (2237) and asks her some... interesting questions (2238, 2250,2251, 2283, 2284, 2315*.) Her first instinct upon meeting Pintsize was to punch him, denting his head and injuring her hand (2340.) She is also either deadpan enough with her sarcasm to fool her coworkers or unaware of just how weird she is (2371.)

However, I also hold that if people view autism in the Questionable Content universe the same way it is viewed here, or even in a similar way, Emily most likely does now know that she is, in fact, Autistic. While she is aware of having some social difficulty and of her lack of friends from outside her work (2298,) she seems more than willing to be her own strange self around these friends she has made. I see no evidence of her making any effort to hide any of her more Autistic tendencies, nor do I see her apologizing for these tendencies. At the very least, that means that if she ever did receive the sorts of therapies that are typical for autistic children today. The type of Autistic person who is as open as she is and as confident as she seems to act is usually open about the fact that they are, in fact, Autistic, so it seems most likely that she doesn't know her neurological status. If she does, either the politics around autism is completely different from the way it is here or we would probably know it by now. Therefore, I propose that Emily from Questionable Content is autistic but is not currently aware of this fact.

*Guest comic, may or may not be considered canon.

Echo, echo, echo

I can speak in my own words, or close enough to them that people do not notice.
Echo, echo, echo.
Somewhere in there, there is an echo.
You can see it, if you listen.
When you ask, "Would you like some ice cream?" and I answer "ICE CREAM!" you can see it.
Even if I say "冰淇淋!" instead, it's just an echo across languages.
Echo, echo, echo.
I pull your words and make them my own.
I am the echo of your words, rearranging them to suit my needs.

You think nothing of my echo.
It's there, just not an issue, unless and until you know.
Then, and only then, does it become a symptom to eliminate,
Something that prevents the ultimate goal:
Indistinguishable From One's Peers.
Not my goal, one forced upon me.
I echo their terms in their tones, then add a "except not."
I echo their terms in their tones, then add a battle cry.
I echo their terms in their tones, and that is, in itself, a rebellion.
My echo, you see, is something they wish to squash.
It's mere use becomes a radical act.
So I echo, I echo, I echo.
In one language.
Across two languages.
Echo, echo, echo.