How I Want To Be Treated

The way I wanted to be treated. The article I read talked about autistic people on Reddit talking about how they wanted to be treated and I agree with most of the things they have mentioned. For example, I am horrid with social interactions with new people and I’m as awkward as President Clinton when he got accused of cheating on his wife and he couldn’t lie at all about it during a press conference. To put it bluntly, I’m horrible at it and I’m completely blind to people's tone of voice and facial expressions. People, unfortunately, look at me like I grew a second head and I get embarrassed and it only gets worse from there.

I also love my privacy but people don’t listen to me sometimes. When I say I want to be left alone, I mean I want to be left alone. I am a very chill person so I can’t handle hyper children running around and screaming their heads off. I like relaxing either reading, writing, or just watching youtube. People, though, just don’t have good  common sense like some students at my school. It’s quite annoying when the person I don’t like start talking to me after I said don’t talk to me over and over again.

I’m quite blunt and I’m not subtle when I say something or ask something. It’s not my personality to be subtle and people sometimes don’t like that when subtleness and being tactful is the best solution. I would be a horrible politician and political leader of a party and country; however most politicians are snakes anyway so I don’t mind very much about that. Ah, dry humor. My favorite humor of all time. Insulting politicians aside, I’m not subtle and probably never will be.

Won't You Pledge Too?

Regards,
~ Jacob Klein
 ~ Holley Jacobs

The Importance of Going To College

The Importance of Going To College

I know for a fact that it's important. You have a statistically higher chance of getting a better job with better benefits, better pay, and a high level of living than people who don't go to college. Also, most of the jobs in the world require a higher form of education than others. Even McDonald's doesn't accept people who don't have a version of higher education. This is taken in account of the higher living costs of today that has about doubled in the past decade or so because of the rise of resource consumption, living costs, and living quality. And the types of yesterday are declining to the jobs of today. Jobs such as nurses, farmers, and metal workers are declining while programming, electronic design, and animation are on the rise.


It seems to show that hands-on are declining while the jobs that aren't hands on are rising. So the fields of today's  jobs are narrowed and more fit for that section then the all-around type of jobs  which has lead to a rise of technical colleges that specialize in certain fields and a lower percentage of people going to 4-year colleges compared to people who are going to technical colleges. So because of hands-on jobs that are declining, people are being laid off because of automated services or businesses going out of business. These people are put on SSI because of losing their jobs and they are given a certain amount of time to find another job. But the problem is because they never learned about this newer jobs and never went to college in the first place or never went back, they are unable to get another job because they don't have the relative information that let businesses hire them.

April Again Is Here - Autism Awareness Month

We have made a video each April for Autism Awareness since 2011. We haven't done that this year. We have bigger plans but I wanted to share my three favorite videos. Jacob and I worked hard on these videos and I am proud to call him my son, my heart, and my soul. He makes me proud every day and there are many days I wonder how I got so lucky to have such a compassionate, caring son. What makes me so special? I now realize that it is not me that is special and I am supposed to help him but the exact opposite, in fact. He was given to me by God because HE is SPECIAL and he helps me on a daily basis. Watching him grow into a smart, young man has been a joy that no one can take from me nor share with me. It is something that only Jacob and I share and for that; 

I AM PROUD TO BE AN ASPIE MOM!!

Regards, 
~ Holley Jacobs

Chapter 2 - The Aspie Teens Survival Guide.

When I was younger, I used to be a lot more organized. I used to sort things by type, color, and size when it included something like my video games and things I like. Homework was not so bad till I got older when I would lose paper like people would throw away their change in a fountain. Even now I still have problems but I have preventions in place of that. 

In my IEP, I have a technology assist in it so I can use a computer provided to me to help with organization and with help doing homework. It provides me a lot help then binders, folders, and other substitutes. I am also like the author in that I am a concrete thinker. However I can think abstract, sometimes I just can’t help thinking concrete. The negative part is that I need specific directions on things. Most things I don’t but others I need it. 

For example, like the author’s, when my mom need’s her purse or needs something. I don’t usually know where it is so I ask where. When she tells me, I tend to ask where exactly or close to it. However, I am not always successful in asking or she doesn’t know. The same concept but a bit different from the author is that me and my mom go to the school and talk to the teacher’s and anyone else. I give them a presentation about me and my disabilities and others.  

The thing about tests is that my test studying habits are not good, I tend to not study which will be a downside later in life, but I have trouble with it. I tend to remember information well so I don’t tend to study. Though I acknowledge I need to, I still need to put the effort.  

And I don’t believe in cheating on any scale. I refuse to do so. I don’t think it’s right and it’s not worth the risk. Homework is not a major problem unless it’s on paper, then it will be an extreme problem for me and I will end up losing it. That is this blog post and I believe this was an extremely successful one and informational. I hope you have a good day and a good life. 

Bye bye people.
Signing Off,
Phoenix

Chapter 1 - An Aspie Teen's Survival Guide

I think when I hear the word syndrome is a condition that has affected the person in some way. It doesn’t mean it’s bad in any way. I agree with the statement in the book saying Asperger’s is a disorder that affects normal-looking people and they great at certain things but incapable of doing other things. 

They are challenged by social interactions, nonverbal and sometimes verbal aspects of communication. I have developed more than my fair share of close relationships outside of my family. However, it’s not a lot considering.  Ever since when I was old enough to come to my IEP meetings, my mom has wanted me to learn about my disabilities and learn about them. 

I kinda knew I wasn’t normal. I was socially awkward around people my age and I never had any long lasting friends except a few. However, I always got along with adults more than usual. I thought it wasn’t a burden I knew I could improve my position. My mom used to be a nurse when she was younger and when I was born, she knew I was not acting normally at the age I was at. She got me diagnosed with Asperger’s when I was very young. I don’t remember the exact my age though. 

And it is true that there is no cure for Asperger’s and they don’t know what the actual cause is. However, they believe that it’s hereditary so it’s false that it’s caused by immunization shots. There has not been any case of immunization shots causing Aspergers. I also agree with the author to not tell to tell your child they have AS when they younger. I would tell them when they are older so they can understand better. They might be disturbed, relieved, or burdened by the information.  

It will depend on how they feel about AS and how it affected them before then. It was a relief of sorts to me because I knew after I was not alone in my struggle and that I could get help. It was one of the best moments. Now those are my thoughts on the first chapter of The Aspie Teens Survival Guide. I hope you enjoyed the post and I hope to see talk more about Asperger’s and my life in general. 

Have a good day and good life. 

Signing off, 

Phoenix

Update on Progress - Mendability Sensory Enrichment

For personal reasons, I have been unable to help Jacob with Mendability as often as I need and want to. I love the fact that it gives Jacob and me "time together" and even though, it is in a treatment setting; it doesn't feel that way for me. 

I cannot nor do I speak for Jacob's opinion but I will ask him and see if he wants to write a post about his views.
I have always believed in inclusion and teaching Jacob self-advocacy and life skills. At this point, he is almost 16 so many of the issues we face may not be due to his diagnoses but instead to just being a teenage boy.

Jacob's Mendability Experience One

Jacob's Mendability Experience One



"When I first heard about Mendability, I was excited about it. But when I heard the age groups, I kinda got nervous about it because I did not want to do something I would not like. And when me and my mom saw the videos of the things I was supposed to do, first off; what they were doing was weird. Secondly, it creeped me out the way the person was talking about the things and lastly I was kinda reluctant because I know no one in my age group would like to do those things. This is my thoughts so far."
~ Jacob Klein