Article on coping with autism adolescence
Dear everyone:
I am finally putting up a new article after a four-month hiatus. After continuously reworking my article, "The Season of Adolescence", in response to the volatile situation with Sebastien, my autistic adolescent, I have finally decided to send it out to the world. In this article, I highlight the challenges, identify a few sensory strategies, and offer a few insights about raising an autistic adolescent.
I had hoped that things would improve dramatically with the passage of time, but alas, progress has been painstakingly slow and difficult. The caregiving journey is tough, thankless, and heart-breaking. Though I had hoped to have found the answers to making it a more pleasant journey, I can only say that I am still searching. While I had entertained the option of abandoning this article completely, I ultimately believe that some of you might still be able to glean some value from it.
Below is an excerpt of this article:
Sebastien’s Season of Adolescence: Puberty Unleashed
by CHOO Kah Ying
Sebastien's season of adolescence can be described, to borrow the brilliant lines of Charles Dickens, as “the best of times”..., and unfortunately, the “worst of times”.
On the one hand, my 15-year-old has turned into a young man with the initiative to perform many household chores: preparing his own meals, washing the dishes, sweeping and mopping the floor, and taking care of the laundry, etc...
On the other hand, the competent and creative Sebastien also has a dark side. Fuelled by his raging hormones, Sebastien is engulfed in a sea of heightened sensory cravings, impulses, compulsions, and obsessions. With his heightened sensory perceptions, Sebastien has become obsessed with the dramatic transformation of his body, an addictive wonderland that offers endless hours of exploration...
As you are beginning to sense, the list of Sebastien's unpleasant, disturbing, or troubling behaviours could go on ad nauseum. There is not one aberrant behaviour that truly takes centrestage; rather, it is a full panoply of them blending into one another in a nightmarish carnival of deviant behaviours...
To read the rest of this article, please click here: http://www.awakeningminds.com.sg/articles_sebs_season_of_adolescence.html
This will be my swansong article, at least for several months, as I have decided to revamp my website, and put up affordable informative booklets (on designing learning and writing activities) and worksheet templates, which can be used for learners with moderate to severe learning difficulties. These booklets and worksheets templates would be the culmination of my homeschooling life, workshops and the learning materials and worksheets that I have been designing for Sebastien, my students and families. By putting them online, I hope to reach out to a far wider audience than the families who have sought my consultation services, the participants of my workshops in Singapore, the students I teach. I look forward to unveiling my new booklets and worksheets templates in the not-too-distant future.
In the meantime, I hope to continue with the once-a-month support group in September (in Singapore). I will provide an update in the middle of next month.
Best regards,
Kah Ying
I am finally putting up a new article after a four-month hiatus. After continuously reworking my article, "The Season of Adolescence", in response to the volatile situation with Sebastien, my autistic adolescent, I have finally decided to send it out to the world. In this article, I highlight the challenges, identify a few sensory strategies, and offer a few insights about raising an autistic adolescent.
I had hoped that things would improve dramatically with the passage of time, but alas, progress has been painstakingly slow and difficult. The caregiving journey is tough, thankless, and heart-breaking. Though I had hoped to have found the answers to making it a more pleasant journey, I can only say that I am still searching. While I had entertained the option of abandoning this article completely, I ultimately believe that some of you might still be able to glean some value from it.
Below is an excerpt of this article:
Sebastien’s Season of Adolescence: Puberty Unleashed
by CHOO Kah Ying
Sebastien's season of adolescence can be described, to borrow the brilliant lines of Charles Dickens, as “the best of times”..., and unfortunately, the “worst of times”.
On the one hand, my 15-year-old has turned into a young man with the initiative to perform many household chores: preparing his own meals, washing the dishes, sweeping and mopping the floor, and taking care of the laundry, etc...
On the other hand, the competent and creative Sebastien also has a dark side. Fuelled by his raging hormones, Sebastien is engulfed in a sea of heightened sensory cravings, impulses, compulsions, and obsessions. With his heightened sensory perceptions, Sebastien has become obsessed with the dramatic transformation of his body, an addictive wonderland that offers endless hours of exploration...
As you are beginning to sense, the list of Sebastien's unpleasant, disturbing, or troubling behaviours could go on ad nauseum. There is not one aberrant behaviour that truly takes centrestage; rather, it is a full panoply of them blending into one another in a nightmarish carnival of deviant behaviours...
To read the rest of this article, please click here: http://www.awakeningminds.com.sg/articles_sebs_season_of_adolescence.html
This will be my swansong article, at least for several months, as I have decided to revamp my website, and put up affordable informative booklets (on designing learning and writing activities) and worksheet templates, which can be used for learners with moderate to severe learning difficulties. These booklets and worksheets templates would be the culmination of my homeschooling life, workshops and the learning materials and worksheets that I have been designing for Sebastien, my students and families. By putting them online, I hope to reach out to a far wider audience than the families who have sought my consultation services, the participants of my workshops in Singapore, the students I teach. I look forward to unveiling my new booklets and worksheets templates in the not-too-distant future.
In the meantime, I hope to continue with the once-a-month support group in September (in Singapore). I will provide an update in the middle of next month.
Best regards,
Kah Ying
posted by Choo Kah Ying at
5:56 PM
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2 comments
