Alan Yau > Quotes

“The Triad of Impairments   People with autism have difficulties in three areas, known as “the triad of impairments”:   social interaction – difficulty in relating to others; social communication – difficulty in understanding, acquiring and using verbal and non-verbal communication; rigidity in thinking – difficulty in being flexible and generalizing learning.   Autism affects individuals to varying degrees and as we have said this is reflected in the term “Autism Spectrum Disorder”. The difficulties in each area of the triad of impairments may be expressed in different behaviors, e.g. the difficulty in social interaction may be expressed in terms of aloof behavior, where the child will have little to do with others, or as over-familiar behavior, such as touching strangers in the street.”
― Alan Yau, Autism - A Practical Guide for Parents

“Children with autism are as individual as everyone else – indeed they are probably much more so, as their individuality is less held in check by social constraints.”
― Alan Yau, Autism - A Practical Guide for Parents

“Difficulties include:   having narrow interests and obsessions; having to have things a certain way – e.g. all the doors need to be shut; having to do things a certain way; finding it hard to predict and anticipate; poor generalization of learning.”
― Alan Yau, Autism - A Practical Guide for Parents

“Moral – mentos mints and fizzy drinks don’t mix. If something has made your child super fizzy, give them time to settle. If time doesn’t reduce the fizz, don’t be a mentos mint – be a raisin instead. Don’t cause an eruption. Dance.”
― Alan Yau, Autism - A Practical Guide for Parents

“Goals are important, but what is more important is the connection that you build through mindful interaction with your child.”
― Alan Yau, Autism - A Practical Guide for Parents

“Difficulties around social interaction include:   not understanding the unwritten social rules, e.g. around friendship; appearing to be insensitive because they have not recognized how someone is feeling (or don’t understand how they should react); not understanding other people’s intentions; not being able to predict other people’s feelings and reactions; becoming aloof, distant, or uninterested in other people as a result; not seeking comfort from other people; behaving strangely or inappropriately – because of not understanding what is appropriate in different social situations.”
― Alan Yau, Autism - A Practical Guide for Parents

“Difficulties with social communication include:   difficulties understanding language; difficulties producing speech; unusual patterns of speech; repeating words or phrases; referring to self by name; not understanding the point of communicating; not pointing out things of interest to others; not understanding tone of voice, facial expressions, body posture, gesture, body distance, and volume of speech; not being able to read the signs that tell you whether to continue talking or to stop; the tendency to take language literally, which makes it difficult to understand jokes, sarcasm and figures of speech.”
― Alan Yau, Autism - A Practical Guide for Parents