An Autistic Guide

11/23/2025

Emails, phone calls and texts, oh my!
Communication is challenging for autistic people to begin with. Until my mid 20s I had to script every phone call in advance.

Now, I’ve got the scripts pretty down. The time spent communicating still takes a significant amount of energy from me and often isn’t my preferred way to spend time.

These forms of communication require executive functioning that most of us are seriously lacking in. They are also unpredictable and a demand that we did not consent to.

I know a lot of people that view responding quickly to texts or calls as an imperative. For me it’s 100% optional. Not by choice, it’s the way I’m wired. It’s not uncommon for it to take me and a best friend 6 months of sporadic texting to actually get through one whole conversation.

The down side to this is it impacts everything. It impacts how isolated we are, it can impact our businesses and relationships. At times I try prioritizing calls or texts or emails because relationships and my business are so important to me, but it never lasts. I simply don’t have the stamina to communicate as frequently or for as long as a neurotypical would, and often one long phone call tanks me for the rest of the day.

Is this something you also struggle to navigate? Let us know in the comments 🩵

11/22/2025

11/22/2025

We work on acknowledging when we are having a dysregulated day, or when something triggers our nervous system. (Ie: “I’m feeling really grumpy today, if I seem irritable it isn’t you” or “I’m feeling really triggered and need to rest.”)

This required taking the shame out of it and holding a lot of space for their big feelings. It required teaching them that their big feelings are their bodies way of communicating to them, and we can learn to listen to that.

In a world that wants to teach kids to control their emotions, and to *push through*- we are teaching our kids instead how to honor how they are feeling on a moment by moment basis. How to nurture themselves through those harder days. And how to not place the shame of their meltdowns on themselves.

Is your meltdown communicating that you’re overstimulated? Out of energy? Hungry/ thirsty/ need to p*e? Is it a call for more coregulation?

Maybe. Or maybe we are just having a hard day/week/month/year and we just need to nurture ourselves through it until we come out the other side.

No matter what, we are still worthy of love, care, and companionship 🩵

11/20/2025

11/16/2025

It’s rare that I take my children to chain restaurants, as I prefer supporting small family owned businesses, but lunch here went so well I had to pass on the recommendation. Thanks Robin Burgers - as an autistic, vegan, gluten free family, we’ll be back often 🫶

11/16/2025

What is something you or yours worked incredibly hard on that other families can’t relate to? Let’s celebrate our wins 🩵

11/13/2025

Okay, let’s be honest there are more than 3 reasons your child may still be struggling, but here are 3 potential areas to look at. Coregulation and attunement really is a full time job. I see parents spend 20 minutes going on a walk with their kiddo or watching them play their video game and they think they’ve checked the box, but it really is a FULL TIME partnership we are looking for when possible and needed. As they heal and grow they may need that less, or may find additional coregulators to meet that need. This need exists for older kiddos too!

11/04/2025

11/03/2025