My Autism Insights

  image of Steve Wiebe from Wikimedia Commons

The King of Kong is not a movie about the autism spectrum, but I’m reviewing it here because throughout the 79 minute running time, I couldn’t help but to be overwhelmed by how many of the people in the documentary exhibited characteristics of OCD (and I really thought at least one guy had Asperger’s).  While I am in no position to say for sure that any person featured in the movie had such diagnoses, there were certainly a lot of symptoms being displayed.  The story was about the rivalry between the top two Donkey Kong players in the world (both have made the Guiness Book of World Records ) Steve Weibe and Billy Mitchell.

This was much more than just a story of video-gamers.  It became a truly epic story of a rivalry that’s gone on for years.  Mitchell originally broke the world record for Donkey Kong in 1982 and held the record until Wiebe broke it in 2003.  Last year, Mitchell reclaimed his title (in a public venue), and Wiebe as of last October became the second person to ever achieve a score over 1 million points in a public venue, but did not take the number 1 position back from Mitchell.

The most interesting thing to me about this rivalry is the level of intensity and obsession both men have with this game.  Yet, it has not impeded them from having successful lives (Mitchell owns a successful restaurant chain and Wiebe is a Science teacher in Washington).  Both have families, but if the film is to be believed, Wiebe at least has had times of putting his complete focus into his game.  His first record-breaking videotape has his son in the background screaming at him to stop playing (which he couldn’t if he was going to break the record).

On the other hand, the film depicts some apparently underhanded behavior from the Mitchell ‘camp’ in order for his record to stand.  Twin Galaxies, the organization that officiates these records, sent two people to take apart Wiebe’s game in order to verify that it wasn’t tampered with - initially against the permission of Wiebe’s wife.  I kept wondering how any of these people held jobs if they were so wrapped up in this competition.

At any rate, whether they have OCD or not, one bright spot that strikes me is that they’ve used their special skill set (and Donkey Kong is an extremely hard game to master, which I have on good authority from my game-obsessed husband) to achieved greatness within their own niche.  The movie goes from just a movie about ‘gamer geeks’ to a truly engaging underdog story.  Definitely well worth a watch.  And who knows, maybe one day Gus will win a world record for playing Pokemon.

I mentioned in a previous post that My Autism Insights will be hosting Adonya Wong on her Virtual Book Tour promoting her book, In My Mind, and spreading autism awareness around the blogosphere.

“She will be sharing her thoughts on living with autism, writing, getting published, and future works.  In addition to these interviews, you can read reviews of In My Mind and listen to an audio interview by Autism Hangout.”

Adonya will also be conducting a giveaway - a pretty sweet one - for commenters along the tour route.  My Autism Insights will be stop #6 on Saturday January 24, so please be sure to follow along!  Here’s the rest of the tour itinerary:

Monday, January 19

Host: Bonnie Sayers, Autism Family Adventures

Tuesday, January 20

Host: Matt Gilbert, Doctorious.org

Wednesday, January 21

Host: MaryTara Wurmser, The Bon Bon Gazette

Thursday, January 22

Host: Katrina Shanks, The Queen’s Pen

Friday, January 23

Host: Sunshine Boatright, Rawtism

Saturday, January 24

Host: Andrea S., My Autism Insights

Sunday, January 25

Host: Lori Guthrie, Rainbow Project DFW

Monday, January 26

Host: Tim Welsh, Tanner’s Dad’s Blog

Tuesday, January 27

Host: Kari Wolfe, Imperfect Clarity

Wednesday, January 28

Host: Tammy Lessick, Autism Learning Felt

Thursday, January 29

Host: Adonya Wong, Healing… Through the Eyes of Autism

Please check out all Adonya’s stops!

And a small disclaimer, while I may or may not necessarily agree with everyone’s opinions, I do fully support their right to be heard and respect their contributions to the autism discussion.  We’re all interested in the common goal of raising awareness and furthering the discussion, so each perspective is a worthwhile one.

Have a great day!

Bonnie Sayers, of Autism Family Adventures and coordinator of the recent Autism Twitter Day, recommended that I do a post on Eczema since both my kids have to cope with it.  I intended to write it but kept getting distracted.  Then my sister-in-law sent me some information, and now I figure that’s the Universe’s way of telling me to just write the darned thing already.  So…

Gus and MM have both had to deal with eczema since they were babies.  The Mayo Clinic describes eczema , or atopic dermatitis, as an inflammation of the skin.  Our old pediatrician, when Gus first started displaying the signs, simplified it for me as “severe dry skin.”  It has often been thought that eczema was an allergic condition; however, a New York Times article from April of 2008 suggests a genetic cause.  Since I am by no means an expert on the subject, I’ll just stick to what we’ve experienced with the condition.

Many people experience eczema during the change of seasons or during the cold weather seasons.  That is the case with MM who has had such bad eczema flareups that she’s gotten bad scarring.  Gus gets his flareups in the late spring/summer.  The minute the temperature goes above 70, he gets the patches, usually behind the knees, inside the elbow, the wrists, and between his shoulder blades.  This winter, MM has been getting bad rashes on her wrists and hands, I expect because she is very careful about regular hand washing, which leaves her skin dry.  I send her to school with a hand cream, but what are the odds that a kindergartner will remember to use it all the time?

It has been suggested to me that diet could play a role in the severity of eczema and that certain food can exacerbate the condition namely:  wheat, eggs, milk, shellfish, nuts, strawberries and chocolate.  If you suspect that your child may have a reaction or sensitivity to any of these items, the best way to find out is by an elimination diet, which means removing these things from the diet for at least two weeks to see the potential effect and then reintroducing them slowly, noting any differences.  In terms of my own kids, looking back to when their eczema was at its worst, they’ve only regularly eaten 3 of those things.  When Gus was on a dairy free diet for 6 months, it was during the time of year when his flareups are typically the worst.  The lack of milk made only the slightest difference, if any.  We could possibly try to eliminate strawberries or eggs (MM doesn’t eat eggs anyway), but I think if I tried to remove wheat products from our diet again, I may get slapped with divorce papers…literally…from my husband AND kids. So we will have to leave the dietary interventions alone for now.

Laundry detergents and soaps can affect eczema for some people as well.  Since Gus has always shown sensitivity to anything on his skin (and his father has to an extent as well), we only use fragrance and dye free detergents.  Even when we get the ‘natural’ and eco-friendly detergents, they are always available in a ‘free’ form, meaning no dyes or fragrances.  The same goes for fabric softeners.  We use Dove soaps almost exclusively, only switching if we try some sort of organic soap.  One thing that worked well for Gus was Dr. Bronner’s Hemp/Tea Tree liquid soap.  The rashes actually got smaller almost immediately using that, but neither one of the kids will tolerate it because it smells very strong.  Stinky, but it works.

So, how do we manage the flareups?  Moisturizing.  Lots of it.  Several layers of it, every night.  Because I like to try to use all-natural products as much as I can, one year I tried pure aloe vera gel to manage the rashes.  It worked okay.  It definitely helped, but the rashes and discomfort were always still there, just muted.  And the aloe required several reapplications during the day, which was not all that practical for Gus who was in school even over the summer and couldn’t apply it himself.  For right now, here’s what’s works the best for us:

Immediately after baths - Aveeno oatmeal lotion (or a comparable brand) applied liberally, all over the body, followed by a thick application of good old fashioned Vaseline or some other petroleum jelly.  If there is a particularly bad flareup, I may use the tiniest amount of hydrocortisone before the Aveeno, but we haven’t had to do that much at all this year for MM (Gus isn’t having any flareups at the moment).  During the ‘off’ season, when the rashes go away, I still use Eucerin (or something comparable) after baths because even without the rashes, both kids still have dry skin.

A quick word about petroleum jelly.  I know many people prefer not to use the oil based product.  I tried to avoid it myself (hence the aloe vera).  We’ve tried other means of dealing with the eczema aside from the ones I’ve mentioned.  I have to say - the only thing that has worked significantly has been the moisturizing regimen.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

But since every body is different, I’d be most interested to hear about others’ experiences with treating eczema!  Please share in a comment!

Interesting question.  So we finally made it to the movies this afternoon to see Wall-E in the second-run theater.   What can I say about Wall-E?

I can say that the short, Presto, at the beginning of the movie was very cute and engaged Gus completely.

I can say that the first fifteen minutes of the movie were very entertaining to DH (dear husband) and me, but MM was a little disturbed and Gus was very interested in the pattern on the wall next to us.

I can say that the popcorn was really overpriced and not worth it - stale.

I can say there’s a good reason we went to see it for $2 instead of $7 or $9.

I can say we probably should have gone to see High School Musical 3 and we may have gotten 45 minutes out of our tickets instead of 15.

I can say I’m glad I waited to buy the DVD because the kids both found the beginning of the movie “sad” (Gus) and “scary” (MM).  They have no desire to watch further.

Is this a negative review of the movie?  Not at all, but I think we’ll be renting from Netflix if we ever want to find out what Eva was looking for.

  Tomorrow begins the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  While I love having my kids home, there is always the problem of how to entertain them all by my lonesome.  That challenge is compacted right now because I’m working at home so there are deadlines, and more deadlines, and oh yeah look another deadline.  I’ve got editing to do by Friday; 4000 words to write by Monday; and a novel to finish before Sunday.  Then there’s that pesky holiday to get ready for on Thursday.  How do I accomplish all that and still keep two kids busy?  Clearly, I can’t, right?  Or can I?

I have this crazy idea that I can still make a Herculean push these last 5 days and get everything done.   I think I may have to give up a few extra hours of sleep this week, perhaps just not sleep the rest of the week.  I plan to bribe the children with a movie if they give me a few hours to work tomorrow - High School Musical 3.  Or maybe we’ll check out Wall-E at the second-run theater.  And while I am fully aware that attempting to take the both of them to a movie on my own is probably a good indicator the beginnings of a nervous breakdown, I’m going to try it anyway.

Could it be that I’m sounding like the breakdown’s already begun? Not quite - close, but not quite.  Just having a strange combination of manic energy and not wanting to do anything but listen to Twilight on audio - otherwise known as procrastination.  See, so why should my kids be cooped up because I’m a chronic procrastinator?

I’m not sure how the loudness will sit with Gus, and MM may get bored halfway through.  I fully expect that one will end up wanting to leave and the other will want to stay…or one will want to roam and the other will want to sit.  It will likely be a disaster.  But what’s one more disaster to the big dope who managed to get so overloaded with stuff to do?  We’ll just call it an adventure and move on.

Plus, it will give me something to blog about tomorrow, providing we’re all still in one piece.  My posting may be sparse for the next few days.  There’s only so many words my brain can process in a day.

So, if I don’t post tomorrow or the day after, wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and wish me luck that my brain survives the next few days!

I’ve recently come across a book and a movie that I think are worth checking out if you have some time over the weekend.

  First a movie: Snowcake.  I reacently learned about this movie in which Sigourney Weaver magnificently plays an autistic adult who has just lost her daughter.  Aside from being a very moving film about redemption (not hers), the performance gives a fascinating perspective on the world of a person with autism and also the way neurotypical people interact with them.  One scene in particular got me a bit riled.  After the wake for her daughter, she starts to behave in a way that might be considered by some to be inappropriate to the situation, but she was in her own home.  A neighbor tries to stop her.  This annoyed me - I hate to see someone go into another’s home and then control what goes on there.  If you don’t like it, go the hell back to your own house!  Anyway, it’s an excellent film.

Kid, Parents, and Power Strugglesby Mary Sheedy Kurcinka - I read this about 2 months ago and I think I will flip through it again.  Some very concrete strategies for interacting with children sans power struggles.  What I found most compelling was that Kurcinka spends a lot of time looking at how a parent’s issues will influence their interaction with their child.  Although this book does not directly deal with parenting a child with autism, she does address how special needs change the playing field, unlike some other parenting books I’ve read.

If you’ve got any other recommendations, please feel free to share a comment!  Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

The Hollywood Reporter told that Clare Danes will star in the HBO special, set to start filming around October, about the life of Temple Grandin, one of the country’s leading speakers about autism. The film, which has taken close to a decade to get the green-light, will be directed by Mick Jackson.

Temple Grandin is autistic and also a top scientist in the field of handling livestock humanely. She’s the author of several books to educate on the topic of autism including Thinking in Pictures, Emergence: Labeled Autistic, and most recently Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships co-authored with Sean Barron.

Danes will portray the young Dr. Grandin up through her graduate studies.

The Autism Self Advocacy Network has created a public service video in response to the very offensive language used in Ben Stiller’s newest creation, Tropic Thunder. 

I’m surprised that Stiller, who I’ve typically liked as an actor and comedian, would be so blatantly offensive. 

A coalition of disability advocacy organizations are calling for a nationwide boycott of the film, which uses the word “retard” repeatedly in relation to Ben Stiller’s character: an actor who plays a character, Simple Jack (the name itself is pretty self explanatory and insulting), in an attempt to win an Oscar.  Satire is one thing; blatant disrespect and abuse is something entirely different.  And they probably didn’t even intend to be offensive; they probably never even gave the word a second thought, which speaks volumes about how the disabled are disregarded in this country.

Shame on Ben.  I won’t even be watching this one on DVD.

Edit:  Support the boycott

When I first looked to put my daughter in preschool, I somehow ended up having a conversation with the director of the school about Gus and autism in general.  And although MM did not attend the school (sadly, it was a great program, but they had no available openings) I did walk away with a book recommendation.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon is a work of fiction that features an autistic teen as its main character and narrator.  It gave me my first glimpse of what the inner life of a person with autism might look like.  While I can’t say it’s an exhaustive examination, it is a somewhat enlightening read, not to mention a well crafted story. 

   Warner Bros.

My husband and I went to see The Dark Knight in IMAX this morning (absolutely LOVED it, by the way).  For two and a half hours, this is what I experienced:

Noises and explosions so loud I had to keep my ears covered for long periods of time.  Some of the sounds were so intense (any time a car was onscreen) that I could literally feel the vibrations through my body, and it became hard to breathe.

Stunning visuals so large and close that I couldn’t take them all in, let alone process them.  And any time Batman jumped from a building, I had to close my eyes because the sensation made me dizzy and a little ill.

I spent at least half the movie needing to go to the bathroom, which means I spent half the movie splitting my attention between the film and the internal dialog I was having with my bladder trying to get it to, “shut up so I can watch the movie!”

Hurting ears, visual overstimulation, internal distraction making it hard to focus.  It occurred to me that living with autism might be a little like being trapped inside an IMAX movie.  I always had the option to get up and leave, but an autistic person can’t just walk away from the sensory overload.  I wonder if more people saw it like that if they’d be a little more patient, understanding and empathetic.