Life Literally: A Practical Guide to High-Functioning Autism

By Laura Wright

Celebrities have millions to spend on their autistic children. Scientists and medical professionals often seem to view the disorder through a microscope. What is a normal parent to do? "Life Literally," provides key insights into practical methods of managing behaviors and improving the lives of both your autistic child and the surrounding family.
Autism is not a life sentence. Autistic children have gone on to become doctors, engineers and professionals of high esteem. Autistic parents do not love their children less than parents of non-autistic children do. The purpose of this book is to provide simple, straightforward discussion on autism and common issues families face.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black House Books
• Release date: Mar 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452467580

Laura Wright

Laura has spent most of her life immersed in the worlds of acting, singing, and competitive ballroom dancing. But when she started writing, she knew she'd found the true desire of her heart! Although born and raised in Minneapolis, Minn., Laura has also lived in New York, Milwaukee, and Columbus, Ohio. Currently, she is happy to have set down her bags and made Los Angeles her home. And a blissful home it is - one that she shares with her theatrical production manager husband, Daniel, and three spoiled dogs. During those few hours of downtime from her beloved writing, Laura enjoys going to art galleries and movies, cooking for her hubby, walking in the woods, lazing around lakes, puttering in the kitchen, and frolicking with her animals.

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Praise for Life Literally… by Laura Wright:

I work with people with intellectual disabilities and many of them have autism. Having said that, I can honestly say this book is a very helpful tool for parents or anyone that knows someone with autism written in a straight-forward, everyday life language! – Erik Gustafson

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Life Literally:

A Practical Guide to High-Functioning Autism

By: Laura Wright

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Copyright 2011, Laura Wright. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Obtain copies only through authorized channels. Published by Black House Books [http://blackhousebooks.com].

Second Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents:

Chapter One: Life with Autism

Chapter Two: Autism is not a Life Sentence

Chapter Three: Symptoms and Thoughts

Chapter Four: Literally

Chapter Five: Diagnosis

Chapter Six: School

Chapter Seven: Medication

Chapter Eight: Cleaning & Hygiene

Chapter Nine: Diet & Exercise

Chapter Ten: Alms for the Poor?

Chapter Eleven: The Others

Chapter Twelve: Obsession

Chapter Thirteen: Behavior and Discipline

Chapter Fourteen: Relationships

Chapter Fifteen: Theory

Chapter Sixteen: 36 Hours a Day

Chapter Seventeen: A Final Word

Chapter Eighteen: Sources

About the Author

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Chapter One: Life with Autism

We are not usually prepared for much of what life gives us. Unforeseen events, accidents and miscommunications often seem to govern more of life than anything planned or hoped does. Children are no different and that is particularly valid when discussing autistic children. The majority of parents are simply not prepared. This book is written with the hope that perhaps someone will benefit from what we've learned the hard way. It is not meant to be clinical or even definitive. It is meant to be an informal reference to help the autistic parent, or family member, learn more about the disorder.

Children do not come with manuals. Unless you're the parent of an autistic child, then you face too many manuals. As a matter of fact, you can search in the books section just at Amazon.com, at the time of his book's creation, and find well over 6,500 manuals. That's a lot of manuals and, if you're like most parents of autistic kids, you don't have that kind of time or money. The slogan, Autism speaks, is very true, but we live in a world that doesn't listen.

Autism is a mystery that may never be solved. It is an astounding enigma and we, as parents, often feel stranded in a strange world that nothing has prepared us to experience. Despite the skyrocketing numbers of children diagnosed with autism in the past 20 years, parents are still far too often without practical help. There are countless clinical and medical journals, scholarly books and papers which study autism through a microscope. We can see how celebrities deal with it when it emerges in their children, through lavish and impractical treatments or posh living arrangements. We can follow the fastidious writings of psychologists, professors, psychiatrists, therapists and any other professional who has the proper accreditation. But, we are not doctors, psychologists or therapists. We are not celebrities with millions of dollars at our disposal. We are parents. Far too many of these guides are as impractical and impossible as they are lengthy and tedious to read.

This is a personal look at high-functioning autism, from our family's experience. For the writing of this book, I will call my son Aiden. Much of the information I have amassed is solely from the trial-and-error of parenting. It is a somewhat autobiographical, somewhat anecdotal, impersonal book of reference.

We are more familiar with such disorders as Asperger's Disorder today. Many shows on television briefly discuss autism at various times. Yet, they do not often portray most situations constructively. It is either a family's emotional wreckage or depicting the autistic child as severely handicapped. Several news programs have shown parents spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on treatments that are either incredibly dangerous or completely useless. In many cases, this utterly irresponsible spending has landed them hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Most of us will not encounter these situations. Most autistic parents are not crushed just because their child is different. Nor should we be. We should be proud of our children.

You should realize that not all cases of autism are remotely like the full-blown or most severe form. There is generally no process of regression or debilitation beyond what you see now. Are you devastated at this very moment by that thought? I wasn’t either. My son is vibrant, healthy, brilliant and very good-natured.

Most of our children fall beneath the autistic umbrella, which is a term used to describe the numerous disorders displaying traits similar to autism, but manifesting in milder forms. These disorders come in degrees. One child may have an incredibly mild case with only minor problems that are easily remedied by simply adjusting his or her environment. The next child may have a more severe case and may not even be able to attend regular school without medication. No two autistic children are alike. Likewise, there is no one size fits all, method of treatment or therapy.

Once Aiden was diagnosed, we pursued every informative venue possible. We began a quest to learn all we could. We watched instructional DVDs, read countless books and sadly, many just didn't offer information that was practical or applicable. We didn't live in an area where there were autistic learning centers. We didn't live in an area where there were special schools. As far as I can recall, there wasn't a single support group for parents of autistic children at the time. Organic, specialty foods remain incredibly exorbitant. It would've been nice if we could have canvassed the surrounding states for such facilities, but we didn't have a few hundred thousand at our disposal.

I am a writer and never considered myself particularly typical. If my father encouraged anything, it was the importance of individuality and the need to be an individual, regardless of what is