Me, Asperger's and noisy games

Adults and children with Asperger's Syndrome often have challenges with senses, especially noise. When I was little there were a few games that I hated because they made loud and sudden noises.

I hated jack-in-the-box. Even though I knew the jack would pop out after winding it up, the suddenness of it and the noise it always made, caused me to jump. I would refuse to wind it up.

There are three other games that come to mind.

Operation: The buzz when you touch the side of the holes always made me jump. Knowing it would go would make me nervous, so I'd end up making it buzz.

Buckaroo: This made a loud noise when you put too many items on the donkey and it bucked up, making a noise.

Ker Plunk: It was the noise of all the marbles falling down if you took out the wrong stick. The idea of the games is to put in all the sticks in the holes, then pour in the marbles. You would have to take a stick out at a time, careful not to cause a marble to fall down the gaps. That makes the noise.

So, are there any games that you don't like or don't like playing because of the noise? Let me know.

My top tip for children is: if there is a game you don't want to play because it affects your senses, then tell your family. Don't be afraid to let them know.

Asperger's Syndrome and sensory overload - What is it?

At the weekend I had sensory overload. I think this is something that could be connected with my Asperger's. So what is sensory overload? For me, it was when my brain can't cope with any more senses and shuts down. I feel my brain shutting down when I read or go on the computer. After a couple of minutes, it goes all foggy and I can't cope with what I am seeing and have to put down the book or shut off the computer. It first started on Saturday afternoon. I had been to a goal-setting brunch in Holborn that morning and didn't get home until 1.45pm. An hour later I went to bed for a nap. When I woke up, I felt worse. I began reading and felt my brain shutting down. I thought that having dinner would help. It did for a while. Until the following morning. I was all right when I got up, went over the road to get the paper. When I got home, I browsed the paper and started browsing the magazine. It was then I felt my brain begin shutting down again.

So how do you cope with sensory overload? I now know when I have it, so don't fight it. I rest either sitting quietly in my armchair, or usually go to bed for a while on and off during the day. This is what I did on Sunday. I felt so tired and washed out. I ended up going to bed really early just before 8pm.

Sensory overload normally happens to me when I have done too much, and includes too much travelling. This time I had been to a day workshop by London Bridge on the Friday (two trains), and to a goal-setting brunch in Holborn (two buses). The fact that I had travelled two days in a row, and had taken in lots of information on both days, my brain found it hard to cope with any more so shut down. Told me I needed a day's rest.

So that is what sensory overload is and how I cope with it. If you have any questions or advice, please don't hesitate to comment here.

SCBWI Retreat - What I learnt and did Part 1

Last weekend I went to Dunford House in Surrey for a writers' retreat. I went on the Friday and returned Monday afternoon. Friday was just socialising and dinner as we could only check in at 5pm, due to another group leaving.

Saturday - we had a talk by Lucy Christopher about settings. Here is what I learnt, and what I did about it. Lucy researches the senses. Think of the tension. What might happen in the place. Place can shape relationships. Settings can show all that is needed to know. Be specific. Then we had an exercise where we had to write down our own settings from our work and write what it was, what it looked like, what we saw, what it sounded like (descriptions eg bird songs), what it smelt like, feels like. Here I drew a rough sketch of my magical village Singleton, and I drew the park in the middle. I wrote as though I was the main character in the park and what she felt like being there. It really brought the village and the park to life for me, and I had a great idea how to bring the story more alive when I wrote about it next. For me, the magic I wanted to write about got darker. We had to think of the textures under our feet and in hair. (Later on in a break, I went outside and felt the gravelly path to do this, and later wrote it in as part of what the character feels). What tastes evoke the place.

Emotional tension. Fear and excitement. Sources of fear - what does she fear. What excites her about the place. I wrote that she fears she will live there forever like all the elders in the village, but is excited about new people coming to live or see the place. This then came me an idea how to flesh out the whole series, bringing in new people to meet the residents who work there, so they fall in love. So more places would be coming - by magic, of course, when couples fall in love.

We had put create a pull for our character to go out of it. Paula, my main character, goes to work in the next village. This then gave me more magical ideas to put in the story. Weather was mentioned. By this time, the end of the talk, I had lots more ideas to improve the story and make it seem darker than I originally planned, but I am loving writing it.

After that, we had writing time. I got down to it, and wrote and wrote new storylines for Snakeskin Boots inc the darker magical side of the village. I also began writing family trees for each character in each book, which helped me flesh out the characters and the businesses there. I believe this is what my editor was commenting about in her letter to me about it.

In the afternoon, was more writing time and I wrote some more on 'Life'. After an  hour my fingers went crampy and I had to stop and I went outside to get some air and do some senses research for Boots.

We had dinner later on. We had chicken on mash (no butter) with new potatoes and veg, which was gorgeous. Followed by meringue with forest fruits. It was pavlova, but as I can't eat cream, I just had meringue. V nice it was too. After that, I went back to my room cos I was v tired. I read for a while then went to bed. I slept better that night than the night before.

Sunday next....more writing and getting a publisher interested in Billy.