Two Autism Video Glossaries
I’ve only been able to look at some of the videos on the video glossary recently launched by Autism Speaks, the First Words Project, and First Signs. The video glossary contains over 100 video clips of children presenting “early red flags for ASD” (all of whom are diagnosed with ASD), often presented alongside clips of typical children at various developmental stages. The reasons for making this collection of videos readily accessible on the web seem quite obvious, as a way to provide parents, teachers, doctors, and anyone interested and concerned with a sense of “what to look for when you are looking for autism in a yet-to be-diagnosed child.” What I’ve seen so far is leading me to reflect on what my son was like when he was 14, 15, 16, months old, even 10 months.
If, after watching the videos, someone says to you, A child I know is just like the child diagnosed with autism in those videos, what might you say?
A reader just left this comment today, not specifically about the video glossary, but I suspect that people watching the videos will lead to many such queries:
I suspect that my nephew has autism. How do I approach his mother? What would the most graceful and respectful approach be?
What’s the best, non-alarmist, way to suggest to a parent of a young child that “something” might be “going on” with that child?
One thing I would emphasize is that, from all the parents I have known over these past nine years since we had “some concerns” about Charlie, no one has regretted getting an evaluation and starting early intervention. Over and beyond any shame that a parent might feel about potentially “labeling” a young child and saying that there is “something wrong,” there is relief from starting a conversation about what the child can do, cannot do, and is not doing; about phone numbers to call, a book or website to look at, and even about what autism is, and what it is not.
I was going to say that it might be helpful to create a video glossary of older autistic children and autistic adults, of autistic persons after the “red flags” have been noted, the diagnosis made, queries about treatments begun. But then it occurred to me that such a video glossary already exists, at the Posautive You Tube group. Go there and you’ll see not so many red flags, as some persons biking, swimming; as something beautiful.
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