Comments on: Yep autistic people DO read social cues. When not dealing with language.

By: Margy

Margy — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 11:21:11 +0000

I am going to send a link to this page to the supervisor or this man’s team. She may have better ideas about him then I do.

By: Margy

Margy — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 17:54:43 +0000

Ok, I will try to describe the “running man”. Keep in mind that I don’t work directly with him. I supervise another team at the same day training site. I can’t tell you what starts the running. I only know what I have seen and what I have been told. He runs at a rather slow pace for running but with a definite purpose. In other words, he isn’t going to be stopped easily. He is running head first with his head slightly down. If anyone/anything gets in his way he head butts them/it. He has caused injury to himself and to others doing this. He doesn’t seem to be going anywhere or if he is he never seems to get there. A DSP runs with him and trys to direct him to safe areas. Eventually he will just sit down. He may be done at that point or he may resume running after a short “rest”. (I don’t know if he is really resting or exactly what he is doing)He does tend to have times where he is running more often then other times. He can go months were he is running every day and then have a period of time, generally short, when he doesn’t do it so much. I know at home, they let him outside into a fenced in yard and just let him run. When he is done he comes back in and goes about life. At day training they (the powers that be) wont let the DSPs/supervisor do that. They make them direct him back inside and preferably back into his DT room.
If you need to know anything else just ask. I appreciate any input you can give. I would like to figure out what HE wants to happen when he runs. I don’t know if I can do that or not but I am trying.
Thanks

By: Ettina

Ettina — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:55:41 +0000

I speak cat too.
Regarding the guy who runs around when overloaded, I’d need to know more. If I could see him running around, I might have an intuitive guess as to why, but as it is I’ll need to depend on descriptions.
I dash off when I’m upset sometimes, basically in my case I feel this sudden, urgent need to *get out of there* and generally head towards outside. If he doesn’t seem to be heading towards something, however, it may be just automatic movements.

By: Margy

Margy — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 02:03:20 +0000

Thank you for that bit of insight. It is very helpful.
I love your site. It is very informative. It has changed the way I think about the people I work with.
Thanks again.

By: chaoticidealism

chaoticidealism — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 00:33:42 +0000

I wonder if my instinctive communication with cats might be based on reading feline body language? In your videos I see you interacting with cats “on their terms”… Do you read feline body language, too? I call it “speaking Cat” and it often amazes me how few NTs even know it can be done, much less are able to do it…

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:37:46 +0000

Right. While I don't know him (so, again, can't generalize), most times I'm doing something like that, it's, as I said, autopilot, not necessarily about getting away from the thing, any more than freezing in place (another common response I have to overload) is. These are, in me, physiological responses to the state of overload, and may or may not have any bearing on practical responses to the stimulus that's doing it.

By: Margy

Margy — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:49:15 +0000

So are you saying he may not be running to get away from whatever it is that is causing the overload?

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:30:23 +0000

I’m not sure “escape from overload” is the best way of characterizing all responses to overload though.

By: Margy

Margy — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:21:20 +0000

That’s what I mean by escape. From overload. From too much noise, movement, or whatever it is that is overloading him.
The problem comes in when he can’t seem to stop himself and we aren’t allowed to physically stop him because it would be considered a restraint.
Thanks for your input.

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:17:48 +0000

An escape from what?

That wouldn’t be my first thought, but I don’t know him, and it’s difficult to comment on people you don’t know, doing things that can be done for a whole lot of reasons.

That’s the sort of thing I would do when extremely overloaded and my body just goes into a running-around autopilot mode. (Which can be severe enough if not stopped to launch me into an asthma attack that I then can’t treat because I’m running around.)

But there’s a lot of reasons for running around.

Some could be communicative.

Some could be for other reasons.

There’s just too many to say.

I do know the Arc because I have talked to my local one before it disappeared, they helped me when I was in the process of starting services.