Is autism genetic? My view.

 

Yes, that is me when I first started secondary school back in the early 80s. Oh my. 

So, I know there has been some debate whether autism is genetic and runs in families. My view? Yes, it is and does. I know of lots of adults who are autistic and have autistic children. I know of adults who were diagnosed after their children were diagnosed with autism; the most known one in recent years being Christine McGuiness. I have Asperger's (yes, I know that's not on the spectrum anymore but it was what I was diagnosed with and I keep that), so did I get autism from a family member? The answer is - I believe from my dad. My dad died in 2019 but it was never mentioned to him and we didn't know. He had other major health issues to contend with over the years he lived but there were clues there that he was autistic. It was only when I was diagnosed in 2011 and was asked by the psychologists if I had a family member who also had Asperger's that we said my dad. 

So what clues were there that he was autistic? Well, the two that come to mind are calling out across the room to others, and he didn't keep eye contact with my mum when she spoke to him (this was when he was in hospital one time). Those are the two things that came to mind when we were asked.

So, do you believe that autism is genetic? Let me know.

Find out about my children's autism books next Saturday

 This time next week I will have done my first talk and workshop to a SEN group at Dulwich library. My server can't upload the poster I have so I will post the details here.

Saturday 8 June 2024 from 2pm - 3.30pm

Sensory session at Dulwich library

A relaxed session for families with neurodivergent children this includes children with autistic spectrum disorder, adhd and anyone with SEND who would particularly benefit from a tailored sensory environment 

Play with sensory toys, meet other parents and carers and find out about books and resources for supporting your child. siblings welcome. 

Join local author Julie Day who will be talking about her books including Rainbow School, a series following a group of children with autism as they navigate school life and friendships. Julie will also be selling her books for £5, please bring cash only.

Her books are also available to borrow from the library.

www.julieaday.co.uk

For more information please contact emilie - emilie.lewis@southwark.gov.uk

Places are limited to 25 for space. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please let them know.

Want to find out what Asperger's means to me?

 Would you like to know of another way you can find out about me and Asperger's/autism? As well as my website and my children's autism books, there is my YouTube channel. I started it ten years ago, talking about how I found out and was diagnosed with Asperger's, then I got back into writing again and never returned to it. Until this last week. I am creating more short videos of me talking about having Asperger's and what it does and doesn't mean for me. If you would like to learn more about autism and me, then why not pop over there. My latest talk is found here 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TfzTcTWTo4&t=5s

Please let me know somehow if you like it or not. I plan to do more about what it is and isn't for me, especially now I know how to record and upload it to the channel. 

If you know of anyone or organisation who might be interested about these, please let them know as I am working on workshops to help SEND children and their families using story ideas from my books.

Me and lying

 I mentioned that there are some lies I can say. Here are two. If someone (scammer) phones and says ‘about your computer’, I will say I don’t have a computer. If you wore something that looked horrible on you and you were a friend, I would say ‘mmm’. I wouldn’t want to upset you. I hate confrontation.

Yesterday I talked about lies that I can tell. Today I will mention ones I can't. I call them big lies eg if someone asks me to lie that I was with them when I wasn't, I just can't. I might try but it doesn't come out right and you are able to tell that I am lying. So if I say I was somewhere, I was there.

I will give you an example of what I mean about the latter. This happened years ago when I was working at Guy's campus. In the early days of my job in student services I would get given the task of going to the other campus (it was Guy's and St Thomas's) and set up exams for the students. On this one time I had set it up and had to wait for the invigilator to arrive. I needed to go to the toilet, so I did. While I was in there, I heard banging on the outside door. I think I called out I was here. I had assumed it was the invigilator. When I came out I went to the hall but there was no one there. I then went to the security and asked if anyone had arrived to get into the hall. They replied no. I went back to the hall and no one came. Anyway, when I got back to Guy's and where I worked, the staff member in charge at the time called me into his office. He told me off for not being there. I told him I was there but in the toilet, and what had happened. In effect, he really was saying to me that I was a liar. I hated that person at the time. I was so angry. I knew I was telling the truth. It was years later, after I was diagnosed with Asperger's and read about lying, or rather not being able to lie, that I knew. I cannot tell a lie. The staff member left to work in another department at the other campus soon after that.

Want to learn more about autism?

There are lots of ways to find and learn about autism, and these are the ways that I am learning from too. Even though I have Asperger's myself, there is still a lot about being autistic that is new to me and I am finding out. So let's find out together. I split the learning into two sections: fiction and non-fiction. I will start with fiction.

Fiction

Of course I will begin with my own children's autism books 'The Rainbow School' and 'The Pet Rescuers' for 7-10 year-olds. The first series you can find out from my website www.julieaday.co.uk and the second series can be found either via The Book Dragon or Amazon. I have yet to organise for my website designer to put them on there. All of them can be found on the Book Dragon website https://www.thebookdragon.co.uk/

I have just bought the 'Geek Girl' series by Holly Smale. Holly is autistic and I believe so is the main character. There is also 'The State of Grace' by Rachael Lucas which is based on her own daughter who is autistic.

Non-fiction

There are a couple of digital magazines that I know of. SEN magazine and Autism Parenting Magazine. I have had one article in the latter and hope to have more, which will be about growing up with autism and how my mum helped me over the years. You can find out more about this magazine here https://members.autismparentingmagazine.com/dap/a/?a=55311&p=AutismParentingMagazine.com/freegift

There are lots of books about autism and how to help autistics in life. Here are a few that I know about and I have read: Dr Temple Grandin, Pete Wharmby, Jane McNeice, Steve Silberman. There is also 'Marching to a different beat' by Sarah Ziegel, a mother of four autistic boys.

There are also groups on Facebook/Meta who offer webinars and training to help autistic adults and children. The ones I know about are The Nurture Progamme by Jodie Isitt, Ausome Training by Evaleen Whelan.

There is one community where there is learning from webinars, training and chat groups with like-minded autistics. That is Neurodiversity Training International. They have a community App called The EndeeSphere App, which I am an ambassador of. There is a free membership, which comes with a 7-day free trial of the paid version to start with. You can find out more about them here https://www.endeesphereapp.com/a/2147773941/zqK5pxow

All of the above are run by autistics themselves, so know what it is like to live as such.

Find out about autism from me and my books

 If you would like to know more about autism, there is one good way and that is to meet me. I will be at

Come and say hello to me. Find out more about autism, me and my children's autism books. There will be lots of other crafts being sold too. Possibly home made greeting cards, art and gifts. 

Hope to see some of you there. Let's celebrate National Autism Awareness Month together.

What does autism mean for you?

I thought I'd ask this question because something a cab driver said to me about autism on Wednesday made me think, what do others think autism is. This is what was said (not exact words):

I had told him where I was going and he asked me what was happening at the church. I replied that it was an autism family day for autism families organised by an autism charity.

The driver said something in the line of 'oh, autism can be funny with their routines and that. I drive a boy to school.'

When he said that, I thought, Mmm...

So I said, “Yes, we can be like that.”

He then said, “Oh, are you autistic?”

“Yes, I have Asperger's.” I then tried to explain to him why we like routines. I said it was to do with familiarity and the brain. If we were to go to a different place, our brains would get confused and we would have trouble transitioning from one place to another.

I think he apologised when I said I have Asperger's.

I hope that is what routine means to other autistics. Please let me know if this rings a bell with you. What does autism mean for you?