Communication

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If you can. I would try not to wear perfume or even makeup and be mindful of what you put in your hair because those things can really have very strong smells. Sometimes I get very nauseous and sick from these kinds of smells.

Another thing to keep in mind. Some of us have a phenomenon known as sensory looping. For example, if I get a scratch, even if it is a gentle and affectionate scratch from my husband, even after he stops I will continue to feel the sensation for quite a long time afterwards, even up to an hour or so. So if you have students who have this or who are very sensitive, like my fingers or feet will burn, even through my shoes and socks if I touch something and they don't like how it feels, be mindful that the sensations can linger long after the fact.

It is truly fascinating. I like drinks being poured as well. The soft sound of chalk is the soft thud sound it makes as the side of the chalk hits and gently rubs the board, The screech and hard sounds come from the flat round end rubbing the board.

I actually have to tear myself away from this thread to brush my teeth and go to bed. It feels so good to get all this out though. I finally feel like I am being heard by someone NT who cares. I know all of you care and that there are other very concerned and caring NT's on WP as well, but it is great to see an NT who can make a difference in the lives of many Autistic children take interest. It makes me feel like she(?) is taking an interest in me. And for those of us who grew up without any help or special classes, I know for me, anyway, it feels good to get it out there.

Mine i somewhere between a screech and a thud. Maybe a squeak.

LOL!!

Okay. one last thing.
Sometimes I can't start things. What might seem like procrastination or laziness is not those things but the fact that can't get my head around how to start something. This most often happens in matters of executive function. Once I am given a starting point I can usually get the job done well and very thoroughly and sometimes even better than my NT peers. And if, like now, I get on a roll, it just keeps on rolling. But I must get to bed so I will go now. I sincerely hope that I have not written so much that others will find it challenging to contribute this thread. The thoughts just poured out of me and I was excited to share them. Hopefully others will have much more to add.

My God, you're insane.

This is a very nice thread. Almost everything I could think of is already here.

Two important things I wish my elementary teachers did:

-assumed the best out of their students. In many of the scenarios mentioned above, feelings and self-worth decisions could have been altered for the better if the teachers always assume the students had positive intentions (discipline can still occur, but with a change of attitude. I hope this makes sense.)

-sensory help MUST be chosen. A child walking into a small place (fort/box) for sensory relief = good experience. A child being forced into it = traumatic. Same thing goes for some other tools as well (such as weighted blankets). These tools are only helpful when the child chooses the tool and duration.

I just wanted to take a minute and sincerely thank each of you for your patience and honesty with me. As a teacher, I only see my students from the outside. It is so helpful for me to have an insight into what they may be feeling, thinking or their perception. Because many of my students are in younger and may not know how to explain what they are feeling. I feel that as their teacher and an advocate for my students in the Gen Ed classroom it is so important for me to be able to understand (as well as I can) my students perspective. Thank you all so much-I am truly grateful .
Lauren

Thank you Lauren. It is teachers like you who truly make a difference. It is a pleasure to help you.

Here is one more big one for me. Sometimes I get stuck on one thing and can't move on to the next thing. For example, I need to clean my house today but it is a bit overwhelming because I have to do lots of laundry and clean the kitchen and bathrooms and vacuum and iron, lots to do and we have company tomorrow so I want to get it all done. But because it's a bit overwhelming I can't get started and I keep coming back to check WP and post. So right now I am stuck on posting. I used to do that in school too. If I was overwhelmed at starting on the work for one subject, I would keep doing work on the subject I felt comfortable on because it was like my brain could not make the switch. Sometimes I need an outside switch. Like my husband just called me and that was able to take my brain away from the stuck, break the stuck cycle it was on and help switch it to a be able to do something else. Sometimes I call my brother and talk to him for a second and that works too. But the key for me is to find a way to break the loop my brain is stuck in so that it can move on. And usually it can be done with gentle words from someone else and it does not even have to be about the subject at hand. It just needs to interrupt the loop. Sometimes I can even get myself to do it but it's harder to do it myself.

But interestingly enough sometimes it happens with tasks that are not overwhelming or that might only take a minute or two to accomplish.

I started a separate thread about this because I was curious about it specifically. Here is the link to that thread.
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp5996265.html#5996265

Eggheadjr. gave me the explanation. It is an Autism thing known as hyperfocus. You become so focused on one thing that you can't break your mind from it and you need an outside stimulus to help you break it. Look at the other link to see what he wrote exactly.

Probably, that's the one I don't understand either, it seems like it should be annoying, but it feels really good on my spine. Go figure. I think that's why little kids would need to experiment, listening to different noises to see which ones hit the sweet spot. Assuming that, as I said, this would work for most Autistic people as it would be from the same mechanism that causes over stimulation. Maybe it isn't though and it's just me, in which case you might be right!

Oh my goodness this is such a good thread. I understand that feeling of needing to put my fingers in my ears at certain noises and feeling the touch of someone's hand some time after they have taken their hand off me. I'm so glad I'm not alone. I don't have meltdowns over the noises. Once they pass I can get on with my day again. I really feel alot of sympathy for you skibum. That must be awful if the noises affect you so much that you get sent into a terrible way of feeling by them.

The thing that hurt me most was when my teacher wouldn't try and listen to me. I am not good at expressing myself. I got sent away from her desk once because I couldn't find the words to say what I wanted to say. She thought I was being rude because I just handed her something and didn't explain it. She gave me it back and told me to think about what I wanted to say. I had to ask a classmate "what should I say?" I just didn't know how to communicate what I wanted and she didn't understand. Another time I was trying to explain something that was important to me and she said, "oh it doesn't matter" and just dismissed it. I think that affected me really badly. Even now I don't like to tell people how I'm feeling because I feel like people just won't care how a certain thing is affecting me.

screenname wrote:

I totally agree with this. I think alot of adults need to bear this in mind when dealing with each other too. Often people say or do things with the best of intentions, but they get misunderstood and all hell breaks lose and people fall out over something that was taken the wrong way.

Thank you Hurtloam. I am always very touched when people can appreciate how difficult a condition like Misophonia can be. It is a daily battle of self control and keeping one's sanity but I must say that as hard as it can be it helps me be compassionate to the challenges of others. So that is the one good thing about it. But really, thank you so much for what you said.