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 have a few Schizophrenics in my family. I know what you mean about the things that they go through. ASD can also make people have problems with patterns. I have it if I haven't had sleep. Red and green patterns can have a sort of motion in them. I have net curtains in my house and all I could think of was 14 when I looked at them. Hadn't got a clue why! After about a year or so I counted the dots in the patterns on them. 14 dots in each little diamond! It's a thing called gestalt that makes stuff like this happen in ASD people mostly. A lot of ASD people will not be fooled by optical illusions. I never saw a magic eye picture ever. People tell me to stare at them and that they could see a bird. I never ever did. I mentioned it in a session with other ASD people and everyone who tried to see them agreed. It was pretty funny.

The lady I see was never formally trained, she's been in it for 20 odd years and gathered all her experience on the job. She said that she learns new stuff every day. The people I have spoke to who are trained are in my opinion more rigid thinkers and actually quite frustratingly rigid! They seem to have a sort of stereotype in my opinion. I haven't met lots of different people in the line of work but that's the impression I've got so far. All theory and less practical experience.

You might find the groups helpful or they might not be for you. All you can do is see for yourself! You don't have to speak. Some people don't. I just sit and listen half of the time.

You are adding to the resource being here yourself!

If you don't have time to read the book put the authors name into YouTube. She does a brilliant lecture. It will be the first video that shows up.

I actually made a reply to this post but looking back it doesn't seem to be posted. This site can be a little sketchy some times!

It may be the things people over analyse. I've sort of got a way of thinking where I try to rationalise any thoughts I have in contrast with what the other person knows about me or my condition. Something that might be massive to me might not be a problem to other people. I don't feel cold and a lot of heat messes with my proprioception. So I tend not to turn the heating on when it's cold or I'll avoid going to hot places. I would literally sit in a fridge and be comfortable. Someone asked me "Why is your house always cold?". I was a bit pissed off to be honest but I was over analysing. They had rheumatoid arthiritis in their hands and they were in a bit of pain. I hadn't thought about it. I hadn't explained my problems with temperature. I stopped milling over it in my head and told them about it. I turned the heating up to a level we were both comfortable with.

I think that my problem with my behaviour is my tendency to over analyse can also be related to systems I have learned. Psychology, religion, sociology, geopolitics e.t.c. I read a lot before my diagnosis mainly trying to make sense of other people. So I learned the patterns which most people don't consider. It made my over thinking worse. Much worse. I could get to the heart of some situations instantly but lacked the nuances of NT's. Read Adler and then try sitting around a bunch of young guys trying to be macho for example. I got into arguments, fights and a lot of ***.

I've also been on health and safety courses, food hygiene, read books about the life cycles of insects and stuff like that. I can become obsessive over things when I understand the system. I'm OCD about all of those things now. It seems like the more I learn sometimes the more crazy I go. I read books about marketing and advertising. I won't buy certain products just because of the cynical advertising campaigns they use. I point out some of the things to NT's and they actually like learning more. Sometimes I could bang my head off a wall though. You can learn something and understand it and apply it. Other things can cause more problems than they solve. I wish I could unlearn a lot of things.

I think NT's tend to internalise their analysis though and not realise it. Our long drawn out "over analysis" can sometimes lead to an amazing amount of stress but othertimes it can lead to some insight. Sometimes both. Their less analytical approach can lead to impulsive actions, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Neither are superior to the other if you think about it.

It would be amazing to speak to someone who was actually properly trained in autism! Or even meet other people with Asperger's although if these group sessions go ahead I'm still going to be stressed about walking into a group of people, Asperger's or not!! Once I (hopefully) got over that though, it would be excellent to actually meet people who are like the ones on here I can relate to. This, all of you, is the only resource I have re. ASD and I dread to think what I would have been feeling about everything if I hadn't stumbled upon you all. 

At this precise moment though all I'm feeling is tired, tired, tired so Goodnight! (I'll add the book recommendation to my list, Thank You!)   

I used to work with a guy who had schizophrenia and he didn't ever mention sensory issues like either of us are describing. He was more patterns orientated, which was actually quite fascinating to chat to him about sometimes. I could sort of relate to his way of seeing some patterns in things and he was great at describing how he perceived things. It was just the paranoia side of things, on the couple of occasions I witnessed it get out of his control, that I found scary. Scary for him, I mean. I hated to watch him feel like that. It just looked terrifying.     

Yeah, the psychiatrist wanted a diagnosis done by a psychologist just so he could be sure it wasn't some form of psychosis. My previous psychiatrist kept trying to put me on a anti-psychotic, but when he took over asked for anything he could get concerning my ASD symptoms. He got me booked in with a psychologist and she gave me the diagnosis for synesthesia. My GP has also been good.

I think more than anything he was building up a case against the previous psychologist. She had apparently took no notes for a number of patients and not logged anything about my ASD. It worked out well for me. I didn't get given the medication and I now understand more.

I got an Autism worker from my local Autism charity. She's been great at helping me with moving forward since my diagnosis. I was told by the psychologist that diagnosed me that I should call them straight away for support. I think she was particularly good at giving advice and contacts on the day I got my diagnosis.

I think that it's bad that so many people are just being given a diagnosis and just being told nothing else. I got given a sheet with contacts for support. How are people supposed to move forward without anything at all. There is a lot of money being given to kids (which I don't mind at all) but none to adults concerning support. ASD can cause a lot of mental health problems, which in turn cost money. There is no support or much understanding in most mental health trusts concerning these issues either. They need to address it. It would save money in the long term and also save ASD people a lot of trouble and harm.

I was a bit taken aback there that a psychologist would be involved in sensory issues but then, they're involved in ASD so Why Not! It would be interesting to read more about the subject but I'm not sure if my tastes and smells are proper synesthesia or just being over-sensitive to smells. 

Why don't we all, immediately after diagnosis, get a manual or something with all of this information in it? It takes ages to gradually find all of this stuff piece by piece! How did you get an Autism worker? What do they do?     

Yeah, I tend to put everything in a playlist where I know what's coming! It's good to keep the mood flowing.

I was talking with my Autism worker a year after being diagnosed and I decided to tell her about my senses crossing over, for years I thought I was schizophrenic. She handed me a book and told me to read it and maybe it would explain more. It's called Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome by Olga Bogdashina. It explained a lot of things and put my mind to rest on a lot of sensory issues. I'd recommend reading it. She also wrote a letter to my psychiatrist, who got my synesthesia diagnosed by a psychologist.

There are a lot of things that aren't really told to ASD people regarding sensory input. I smell bleach and it is the worst thing imaginable, every sense is overloaded and I feel complete terror. Coffee is another smell that is particularly strange but not unpleasant like bleach. As for colours and sounds everything crosses over. Sensory issues need to be emphasised more. I was literally terrified for years until I found out some more info. Bogdashina's books in general are very good.

Ugh! Cookie Monster!!! Of course he did!!! I swear the past few days my brain has been on strike or something. 

Yeah, I'm not keen on the random selection thing either. It spoils a really good mellow song if it's preceded by a few thumping ones - sort of taints it with that let-down feeling.  

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!

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!

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!