Here's a question for a non verbal

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Hi I am an NT Mom. I need to direct a question to an autistic and not an NT.
I need some help here please. My son is non verbal and obviously autistic (nothing wrong with that).

His moods seem to be affected by the weather. He is happiest playing outside and he loves the sunshine.
When it is cold and wet he seems to be moody and irritated. Things that usually interest him don't. The first thing the NT's want to do is throw medicine and tests at him. I won't allow that. I know that our bodies neurologically and in many other chemical ways are different and that is fine with me.

Is there anything I can do to help him feel a bit more like his usual self? Why does he feel so irritated and grumpy in bad weather or when winter arrives? Why is that:?

Difficult to say but simple elimination with help you find out.

I also like the sun, and don't like cold weather. I don't like being hot an sweaty, but I like direct heat. Like a heat pads directly on my skin (which is a lot safer then UV radiation). I like to touch hot things like radiators, and kettles. It makes me feel more relaxed. I don't like electric heaters because the smell make me feel sick. I don't like it when there is not enough day light. Many people get seasonal depression. You can buy special light boxes that are supposed to help. Overall I am happiest when it is warm but not too warm I get dehydrated. Also humility is horrible

Hi Jordy,

It's hard to know for sure because we can only guess or speculate potential reasons without hearing it from your son's perspective. However, I think that it's likely that he just really enjoys being outside and active and free to run around outside the bounds of walls. This doesn't happen as much in the winter time in many areas. Many folks on and off the autism spectrum alike have varying preferences for weather and climate.

It is possible that your son may be expressing his feelings about his preferences for the outdoors and activities outdoors along with a desire for warmer weather more strongly than others might. Some folks on the autism spectrum, including myself, interpret and express our emotions in more magnified ways than others might.

What communication systems are you working on with your son? I think that it will be helpful for any communication systems you're using to enable him to express his reason for wanting to be outside and in warmer weather. If you're not already, I would recommend exploring different communication options (ex. picture communication systems, sign language, physical object identification, etc.) to identify one that works for your son.

Not being able to communicate via spoken verbal language can be a large barrier for someone on the spectrum, but it is very feasible for autistic individuals to learn to communicate via other means. I know many folks on the autism spectrum who use alternative means to communicate other than spoken verbal language.

I and others on the autism spectrum can speak to commonalities and shared experiences, but there is a large variance among human experience.

Your son's experience of life will differ in many ways from any other individual's experience of life. So what may be true for me for why I like to be outside in the summertime may not perhaps be true for your son. Or it may be true. It's hard to know for sure as I say without getting it from his perspective.

Scott

Welcome to WP!

I am something of a lizard. I have Halide shop lights in the house, I have my bright spot and warm rock, where I work, play for adults.

My function does improve, I move faster, am in a better mood, I just like bright and warm.

I can have seasonal affective disorder SAD any time of the year. It is hot here, humid in the summer, so inside and AC, and I start going into hybernation.

Bright light brings me out, and I have a two level high intensity desk lamp, it feels like sunlight, with a thick UV filter, so no tan, but that is what it feels like.

I am very active and eat lots of meal worms and crickets.

No few hours of bright light for three days, I become lethargic. bitter, bad tempered, and I bite.

The shop lights I got are like florecents, the fixture, with two halide tubes, replacable, I do use them hard. The desk lanp is counter balanced so I can set it just the right distance away.

I am a much better person when I have my brightly lit work area.

I print color, I strain to see, with a flood of light, the color comes to me, to the point where I back up. I like the intense color of bright light.

I like light at the same level used for plants. Bright light on green is great for the eyes. So a play area with bright light, and a plant to think to.

I am not social, but I do like plants and dogs.

I am verbal, but typing is better, speak to people, they just come up with something else, then something else, NT social manipulation for the sake of manipulation.

Speaking and communication are very different, we do communicate. By the time I process what someone said, what the might have meant, and considered a proper reply, they are already in anger toward me, so if I do speak, I say, "Maybe", and, "To Hell with them all". That covers most situations.

I do not look at people who speak to me, and they have the worst methods. They may want to say food is ready to eat, yet first they will call my name, from four foot, and keep doing it till I turn toward them. Then they repeat themselves several times, which is insulting, to themselves, and expect a response from me. That is not communication, that is manipulation.

I hope it works for your son. Try a brightly lit spot with some things he likes, and if he moves toward it, becomes more active, Get more light. Halides are a flat white, close to sun light, Incandesents are red, florescents are blue with an annoying hum. We are very color and sound sensitive, so silent and flat white is best.

You could say how old he is, what he likes, then we could better help. You are a good mother to come to this den of lizards for advice. Fortune favors the bold.