Therapy for Autistic Behaviour?

Apparently I'm to have a 'course' of six - eight group sessions to "help me come to terms with" my diagnosis and to "teach" me about autism. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this and don't really know what to expect from it but I'm willing to give it a shot. Mainly because I've complained long and loud about the lack of services re. autism in my area and feel that when they finally get around to providing this service, the least I can do is give it a chance. 

I'm dubious that this proposed course will be able to provide me with anywhere near as much (or as useful) information as I've found on this forum. The professionals who will be giving this course are currently in training for it (as I sort of have been too with all of the research I've done since diagnosis) and I suspect they'll probably know just about the same as me when the time comes but I'm willing to give it a try, give it the benefit of the doubt. The worst that can happen is that I won't find it useful, although I am a little concerned at the idea of group sessions. (Okay, more than "a little" concerned!)    

lol

Yuck! "groups"!  Worse! "groups of NEW people" . . . 

You shall have to get on and bare it now you've complained LOL ;)  That will teach you . . . he he ;)

No, all jokes aside, I went on one about ADHD and it was deplorable. The title of if was ADHD and ADD something or other.  I pointed out that ADHD has not been called ADD since 1987.  I don't like disorder, classifying or grouping things incorrectly.  It's very difficult for me and that set me off straight away! Ha!

It also made wonder what they actually knew if the title of the group was so terribly flawed and hadn't been called ADD for 20 years.  Experts talking in a group would surely know this?  They lost me with the title.  I was long gone! lol

But if you go with the attitude of perhaps co-educating rather than expecting a revelation on Autism imparted by a neurotypical person then it might be useful if not for you then for them!  Though that kind of defeats the object I accept.

I agree this forum is by far the most useful place for me to get the 'real deal'.

I love this forum.  I'm so scared I'm going to go for my Autism assessment and be told that I'm not autistic now.  I shall be devastated if that happens now.  The waiting is unbearable.

xx

Hopefully you wont have to wait too long to find out, it seems to vary a lot across the country. If the result isn't ASD, but you feel you definitely identify with ASD and with people here, there's no reason why you shouldn't still use this forum. There are a lot of self-diagnosed people here too!  

I read something about synesthesia a while ago. I don't have it but I get something a little bit similar in that I can taste and smell colours. Some colours make me feel really sick, purple is the worst. It tastes of mould and sweat and rotten milk. It's a really heavy, rank smell. I can't be around that certain shade of purple. 

I remember saying in a carpet shop once that a gorgeous, luxuriously deep-pile off-white carpet smelled of vicks vapo rub and salty seaweed (it was an unusual, for me, combination) and the owner was NOT happy! I don't bother mentioning smells to anyone outside the family anymore because no-one else seems to smell them anyway. 

I can taste and smell other things too,  I quite like it most of the time but it can be a bit intrusive if it's something disgusting.       

Sexy Eyes and When Your in Love With a Beautiful Woman are good records! Didn't Cookie Monster sing C is for Cookie?

My mp3 player on shuffle is really random. Al Green will play after Pantera, then some Fleetwood Mac followed by Wu-Tang Clan. I never put it on shuffle until about a year ago. I never did it again! Far too much going on!

Some times fun has to be ridiculous! Otherwise it wouldn't be fun!

I think the Americans and Canadians know what they are saying! I've been hiking before and many times I've heard them say it. I crack up myself. It's a word that is disappearing now though!

My kids 'blame' me for having all sorts of random music on their phones, from Dr Hook to Johnny Cash. We listen to the weirdest stuff, singing along when we're all together, even 'classics' such as 

"A duck walks up to a lemonade stand, and he says to the man running the stand, 'Hey, you got any grapes? ..." 

and Elmo's "C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me"

They have some of the same sense of the ridiculous that I have, poor things.  

I like to sing songs from Madonna's first album with my mom, Dress You Up and Get Into the Groove. Don't tell anyone! Mom wants to sing songs from Metallicas Master of Puppets album but I always put Madonna on!

Some things don't translate very well at all!! We had a Canadian couple staying with us one summer and the woman kept on about her "F**ny Pack" the kids were younger at the time but old enough to have heard THAT word and it cracked them up every time. Very unfortunate! 

It's a good song. I'm a synesthete so music will have colour. I will hear certain songs and they have a "colour scheme" of sorts. So I'll have a sort of "compartment" for songs in the same colour scheme. Hearing one song in that colour scheme sets off a chain of wanting to keep things in that compartment. Weird I know but synesthesia is actually being acknowleged as something that is more prevelant in ASD people.

I "hear" bits of songs all day. Sometimes it can be uncomfortable. I had an overload not long ago and all I could "hear" through it was the first 8 bars of Inner City Blues. I have to be careful on overloady days with music.

80's and 90's rap music was the best rap music. Full stop!

Oh! My daughters and I did that as an 'in' joke for years (still do occasionally) that whenever anything happened, however mundane, one of us would say "There's a song about that!" and we'd sing it! Just remembered that when you mentioned it there.

Love that song!   I think what makes this thing with me a bit more weird is that I don't need to hear any music?  My husband says its a bit scary lol So he will say something to me and I can just reply in a song lyric.  They just kind of pop into the brain.  From where I don't know.  Like whole rap songs from the 80's - 90's but could be anything, could be a commercial, could be just about any song in the world.  This I think I will mention at the assessment now I think more about it.

I was in my dad's car the other day and We Built This City on Rock and Roll came on the radio. I don't usually realise I'm singing along or humming to things. I sung every word. Then realised. Hadn't heard it for years. Pretty embarrasing, lol. Thank god my dad's used to it!

I know it's a cliche but "If we didn't laugh we'd cry" is fitting sometimes! Lol, American colloquialisms are sometimes very, very, inappropriate when put into seeming innocent British phrases. A guy I know had his cousin over to stay. His cousin said "I'm going out to smoke a ***", the American guy burst out laughing and said "Why do you want to go out and shoot a gay guy?. What did he do to you? Are you homophobic?". It was pretty funny. Lol, I remember that phase growing up, god bless her!

Have taken my real name off !  Good thinking!  thank you!

Do you think maybe it's the kind of stuff ASD people over analyse rather than the fact that they do it?  You see I don't care much for any of those things that you describe there but other things, things that maybe NT would not give a second thought, will wreck my head for hours?  Maybe you are right, but maybe it's the nature of the over analysing that  might be different?  I don't know.

I just think people are people. NT or not. I've met NT people who are analysing everything. What people are wearing, how they look, their friends opinions, and the list goes on. Most of the ASD people I've met are more accepting in ways. They tend to ignore a lot of things NT people generally don't.

What about double entendres?  See I can use those myself, ie say something with a double meaning but I might not get it if someone else uses one?  

I am also very literal.  Once I worked for an estate agent.  A tenant called me to tell me they'd lost their mailbox key.  I posted it to them!  It is one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done and I felt so stupid.  There is no two ways about it, it was very stupid, but sometimes my brain just doesn't think sideways!  That's probably THE worst one but there have been other things similar.  Yet my verbal IQ is gifted.  What good is it when you do things like that?  It is useless! 

I don't always find NT jokes very funny either 

I'd forgotten about it.  I haven't thought about it for years! I just thought what can I connect with myself before I developed the masks?  The true self?  Then that song started playing in my head and I had it right there.  One of my "gifts' or "special interests" is lyrics to songs.  I can not hear a song for 30 thirty years but if something triggers it, just like what happened with this now.  Then every word will flood into mind with visuals.  In this case Olivia Newton John floating around on roller skates?  I wonder if I should keep that little pearl of information from the assessor in case she diagnoses me with something else 

I just don't tell people these things!  It's all coming out now !

Oooh! I love Hotel Chocolat stuff but it's SO damned expensive! They can well afford to lose a few strawberries!! That reminds me of a story / joke I heard about a guy who went around shops advertising goods as 'Buy One Get One Free' and trying to walk out of the store with just the 'Free Ones' LOL love it! 

Literalisms are the best laughs though, especially when the other person doesn't 'get it' but maybe that's just me being mean. Or when people inadvertently use an unfortunate colloquialism. I watched a show the other night where a presenter asked an apparently famous British actor if he'd had to "beat off lots of American men to get that role?" Classic! My daughter has dropped a few massive bombs like that recently but I don't think NAS would appreciate me posting them here   : /   She's trying so hard to be a fully-fledged teenager but isn't quite there yet (13) so her use of slang phrases she's heard is ... interesting! 

Xanadu is a crazy film! Swan from The Warriors and Sandahl Bergman from Conan The Barbarian starring in a movie about a guy who makes album covers who finds an immortal Greek woman who wants him to open a roller disco with Gene Kelly! It's insane! A film with a premise like that would never be made today. The 80's and the birth of home video were great!

I know the movie because ELO are on the soundtrack. Nothing to do with glitter, dance, or roller disco's.........

I like your new forumname!!

I've heard it in a poem but I hadn't heard of the movie. Just Googled it but I only know Olivia Newton John (movie-wise) from Grease which I liked! (Pssst! I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use your real name on here  : O  Think the moderators delete them!)   

No problem! It's been good for me too because I haven't really had anyone to relate to who was diagnosed late or is in the same age range as me. Also relating to people who have had a recent diagnosis. Filling in all the gaps is relieving after all these years!

Hey don't think of them as mistakes! As Bob Ross (the white guy with the big afro who paints on TV) says "We don't make mistakes here, just happy accidents", sounds a little whimsical but I like it! It's better than angst and regret! I've had that stage in my life. It was a big ******* waste of time. I actually watch Bob Ross when I've had a meltdown. He is like Valium and Zen mixed but in double denims. I'd seriously recommend watching him when you need a cooldown. I don't worry about posting the "weird" stuff, if it helps people out I don't mind looking a bit silly. We can look back and laugh at it all in good company!

Having an understanding partner is great. Both of the girls I was engaged to pretty much accepted my weirder moments. They were both NT but they had their moments themselves. I remember when one of them dyed her arm hair blonde to hide it. She was dark skinned! Needless to say it didn't look good! She had a degree too and barely any hair there, just a compulsion about it. So NT people can be as just as "weird" sometimes!

I remember we nearly got arrested once for eating a punnet of chocolate strawberries. They had a sign saying "TRY SOME!!!", so I did. I started eating the punnet. She came walking over and said give me some of those. So we carried on looking around the shop. The assistant came over and said "When are you going to pay for those?". I said "How much are they?. It said try some." She said "£15, and the sign means buy some" very rudely (It was one of those snooty Hotel Chocolat stores). I refused to pay because it said "TRY SOME!!!" not buy some and her attitude. I wasn't rude, I just pointed out the difference. We left the store and security were walking in. She was laughing about it, I pointed at her arms and we both started laughing even harder. Looking back that was the whole "literalism" thing kicking in.

No problem! It's been good for me too because I haven't really had anyone to relate to who was diagnosed late or is in the same age range as me. Also relating to people who have had a recent diagnosis. Filling in all the gaps is relieving after all these years!

Hey don't think of them as mistakes! As Bob Ross (the white guy with the big afro who paints on TV) says "We don't make mistakes here, just happy accidents", sounds a little whimsical but I like it! It's better than angst and regret! I've had that stage in my life. It was a big ******* waste of time. I actually watch Bob Ross when I've had a meltdown. He is like Valium and Zen mixed but in double denims. I'd seriously recommend watching him when you need a cooldown. I don't worry about posting the "weird" stuff, if it helps people out I don't mind looking a bit silly. We can look back and laugh at it all in good company!

Having an understanding partner is great. Both of the girls I was engaged to pretty much accepted my weirder moments. They were both NT but they had their moments themselves. I remember when one of them dyed her arm hair blonde to hide it. She was dark skinned! Needless to say it didn't look good! She had a degree too and barely any hair there, just a compulsion about it. So NT people can be as just as "weird" sometimes!

I remember we nearly got arrested once for eating a punnet of chocolate strawberries. They had a sign saying "TRY SOME!!!", so I did. I started eating the punnet. She came walking over and said give me some of those. So we carried on looking around the shop. The assistant came over and said "When are you going to pay for those?". I said "How much are they?. It said try some." She said "£15, and the sign means buy some" very rudely (It was one of those snooty Hotel Chocolat stores). I refused to pay because it said "TRY SOME!!!" not buy some and her attitude. I wasn't rude, I just pointed out the difference. We left the store and security were walking in. She was laughing about it, I pointed at her arms and we both started laughing even harder. Looking back that was the whole "literalism" thing kicking in.

I think the Americans and Canadians know what they are saying! I've been hiking before and many times I've heard them say it. I crack up myself. It's a word that is disappearing now though!

Some things don't translate very well at all!! We had a Canadian couple staying with us one summer and the woman kept on about her "F**ny Pack" the kids were younger at the time but old enough to have heard THAT word and it cracked them up every time. Very unfortunate! 

I know it's a cliche but "If we didn't laugh we'd cry" is fitting sometimes! Lol, American colloquialisms are sometimes very, very, inappropriate when put into seeming innocent British phrases. A guy I know had his cousin over to stay. His cousin said "I'm going out to smoke a ***", the American guy burst out laughing and said "Why do you want to go out and shoot a gay guy?. What did he do to you? Are you homophobic?". It was pretty funny. Lol, I remember that phase growing up, god bless her!

What about double entendres?  See I can use those myself, ie say something with a double meaning but I might not get it if someone else uses one?  

I am also very literal.  Once I worked for an estate agent.  A tenant called me to tell me they'd lost their mailbox key.  I posted it to them!  It is one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done and I felt so stupid.  There is no two ways about it, it was very stupid, but sometimes my brain just doesn't think sideways!  That's probably THE worst one but there have been other things similar.  Yet my verbal IQ is gifted.  What good is it when you do things like that?  It is useless! 

I don't always find NT jokes very funny either 

Oooh! I love Hotel Chocolat stuff but it's SO damned expensive! They can well afford to lose a few strawberries!! That reminds me of a story / joke I heard about a guy who went around shops advertising goods as 'Buy One Get One Free' and trying to walk out of the store with just the 'Free Ones' LOL love it! 

Literalisms are the best laughs though, especially when the other person doesn't 'get it' but maybe that's just me being mean. Or when people inadvertently use an unfortunate colloquialism. I watched a show the other night where a presenter asked an apparently famous British actor if he'd had to "beat off lots of American men to get that role?" Classic! My daughter has dropped a few massive bombs like that recently but I don't think NAS would appreciate me posting them here   : /   She's trying so hard to be a fully-fledged teenager but isn't quite there yet (13) so her use of slang phrases she's heard is ... interesting!