Advocate4Autism #1 - Introduction & Top 3 myths that surround Autism Spectrum Disorder.

First, let me introduce myself -

I am a Psychologist with 15 years of combined experience in both psychiatric and educational environments with individuals who have disabilities. I have Extensive experience with cross-battery psychological evaluations, academic and behavioral interventions, early literacy, and individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ages 2 - 26).
My educational philosophy places a strong emphasis on positive school culture, inclusion, emotional intelligence, team problem solving, and data based decision making.

The most amazing people I have ever met are those who are often deemed as "peculiar", "odd", or "weird". It is those hasty conceptualizations that serve to highlight a beautiful characteristic of life, which is our "differences". It is our "differences" that not only teach us invaluable lessons, but also paradoxically disclose to us that we are in fact a lot more alike that we are different. I would like to dedicate this blog to all the amazing people I have had the honor of working with over the years. We are all born of the same stardust and separation is but a mere illusion.

The goal for this humble blog is to provide research based information on a variety of topics that I have been blessed to learn about over the years including -

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Educational Issues
• Behavioral Interventions
• Emotional Intelligence
• Mindfulness

Myth #1 - All people with ASD are similar to "Rainman".

The 1980's film Rainman explored the life a famous person with ASD named Kim Peak. Mr. Peak happened to possess an extremely rare form of ASD, which deems such individuals as savants due to their variety of outlier skill sets such as being able to recite Pi to the 20,000th decimal place to being able to recall every event in their lives with supernatural clarity. Today it is estimated that 1 in 64 individuals have Autism Spectrum Disorder and savants like Kim Peak represent a very small percentage of exceptional people with ASD, as the vast majority of people with ASD are nonverbal.

Myth #2 - People with ASD cannot feel empathy.

While it is true that one of the diagnostic criterion of ASD is associated with a lack of social reciprocity/social development, it is also true that people with ASD can and do feel empathy to varying degrees. Just because people with ASD may appear to be disinterested in socialization it does not imply that they do not want friends or do not enjoy discussing shared interests. In fact people with ASD do enjoy such interactions, but often do not know how to navigate the social landscape, so be patient with our friends.

Myth #3 - People with ASD are impacted by Mental Retardation.

People with ASD are NOT in fact "retarded". People with ASD actually have a wide range of IQ scores much like the general population, ranging from low to Superior/"Rainman". Additionally, an IQ score is just one score from one assessment and one assessment should never to used to encapsulate something as dynamic as a human being.

Thank you for reading my post friends - If you learned anything please like, follow, ask questions