Newbie :)

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Posted by
Becky

on 28th August 2010

at 20:29

Hi Everyone, wasn't too sure if I should join talk about autism but i finally have :) (although still have no idea what to do!)

Anyway, I am 17 and have been volunteering/working with autistic young people for the last 4 years, I love what I do and think it would be really helpful if i could find out more about autism ect...

Also next year I am hopefully going on to study learning disability studies at uni, due to this I am currently doing a project at college where I am looking into intensive interaction and how it can help with people with autism - I would be very greatful if anybody has any information/experiences (good or bad) about intensive interaction that they could share with me :)

Hope to hear from a few people soon, thanks a lot! Becky :) x

Posted by
asteroids

on 28th August 2010

at 21:37

Hi Becky,

Welcome to the forum.

What do you have to do? I think you've already done it :). You've joined and written your first post.

I don't have any experience of intensive interaction but I think other peole have.

It's brilliant that you are keen to learn more about autism. Can I ask what got you interested in the first place?

I'm an adult with autism. I was diagnosed a few years ago.

Look forward to learning more about you and your studies.

Asteroids Sara - Community Champion

Posted by
Josie Barnshaw

on 28th August 2010

at 22:16

Hi Becky

Welcome to the group :)

Its great that you have been doing all that voluntary work. With regard to "intensive interaction" while I have no experience of this, it has come up on various threads on the forum. The best way for you to access these would be to type in "intensive interaction" in the search box at the top right hand corner of the screen and it will come up with all the threads that it has been discussed in. There are several of them to look through.

Here's a link to one where one of our members posted some info on Phoebe Caldwell who has been very influential in this field. There are a couple of links to both info on her and a very good YouTube clip of her in action. Hope this is helpful for your studies.

http://www.talkaboutautism.org.uk/discussion-forums/autism/autism-news/5497

I am sure some of the others who have some experience of intensive interaction will pop in and chat with you.

Josie - Community Champion

Posted by
Hayles

on 29th August 2010

at 09:13

Hi Becky,

Welcome to the group

I worked with children on the autistic spectrum, which is how I was able to recognise the symptoms in my son & push for a diagnosis. My son is 6 & has Asperger's.

Hayles x

Posted by
Becky

on 29th August 2010

at 12:28

Thanks for your comments guys :)

Asteroids - the thing that got me interested in autism is the people i work for came into my school to do a presentation about volunteering oppertunities with them (we work with many different disabilities not just autism). I thought it would be a good experience so decided to go for it and I am really pleased i did, I have met a lot of great young people with Autism and this has lead to me wanting to learn more about it :) If you don't mind me asking, how old were you when you got a diagnosis and do you know why it took you so long to get one?

Thanks Josie I am just about to look on that link I'm sure it will be very helpful :)

Becky x

Posted by
asteroids

on 31st August 2010

at 09:50

Hi Becky,

I was 39 when I had my diagnosis. I'd always found social sitiations difficult and was very sensitive to noise.

Why did it take so long? When I was at school, autism meant classic autism. People weren't diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome until the 1980s and then, it was believed that girls didn't get AS. Even now, many girls are not diagnosed or misdiagnosed.

Asteroids Sara - Community Champion

Posted by
Elena - former Community Manager

on 31st August 2010

at 13:56

Hi Becky, welcome to the community! And thanks for introducing yourself. We have a lot of discussions and information here on the website. Feel free to dive in and give us your thoughts in the forum discussions! Or just let us know if you're looking for something in particular so we can lend a hand. Looking forward to getting to know you!

Posted by
amberlight

on 31st August 2010

at 14:15

Hi Becky, welcome! :-)

I'm also on the autism spectrum, and work as an autism adviser to the government consultations on autism, National Autistic Society, British Standards Institute, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Church of England, ASPARRG autism and faith group etc etc. I'd have a look at the work by Phoebe Caldwell and Dave Hewett on intensive interaction - they are very good at what they do and both have been very helpful to me when I've been asking about how they see it working for older teenagers or indeed adults. Might start a thread in the General Autism bit...

Ann - Community Champion

Posted by
Elena - former Community Manager

on 31st August 2010

at 15:20

One more thing, Becky... Ann (above) has started a discussion which I think you may be interested in:

http://www.talkaboutautism.org.uk/discussion-forums/autism/general-autism/5832

Posted by
bumblebee

on 1st September 2010

at 09:52

Hi Becky,

Welcome to the forum.....:0)

Claire - Community Champion

Posted by
damo73

on 6th September 2010

at 10:37

Hello Becky,

I was diagnosed last year at the age of 36 with Aspergers, my son was diagnosed with autism some years prior to that. I just want to say that I am a big fan of 'intensive interaction' and I am glad that you like it. I have posted comments on other strings as mentioned above etc. - I am not an expert in it, yet I think I do something very similar with my own son. We are both very tactile people and touch can be very important for us. This must be tempered by the autistic person (and not just the emotions of the professional etc.) - when I trust someone, tactile comfort is great, yet when I do not, it feels like an enormous invasion of personal space and privacy. I would say that it is not easy to get right - yet watching Phoebe Caldwell clips on the internet is a good start.

Damian - Community Champion

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