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SoSK Thread!
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SoSK Thread!
SoSK Thread!
First of all, SoSK stands for Siblings of Special Kids aka siblings of kids with special needs. Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrom, Williams Syndrom, and more; if you have a sibling with special needs, post here! If you don't feel comfortable about talking about this, you don't have to post, but if you do, I think others that have siblings with special needs would love to talk with you!
P.S. I hope that WritingWarrior didn't already make a thread like this...otherwise, we'll just stop one thread. :-)
submitted by Princess P.
(August 1, 2011 - 9:05 pm)
(August 1, 2011 - 9:05 pm)
No, I didn't. And what is William's Syndrome?
Princess P., here is some information you will find interesting: one of the contestents on American Idol had celebral palsy and Aspergers! Despite this, they were able to make it to the top four.
I'll post some more, since I know this post will drag the thread to the bottom.
(August 2, 2011 - 6:25 am)
TOP! (I hate it when this happens... :( )
(August 2, 2011 - 6:27 am)
Tip tip top.
I have no idea what to add to this thread right now besides some topping. :)
(August 2, 2011 - 2:40 pm)
WritingWarrior-That's cool about the American Idol contestant! Ummm...I'm not really sure how to explain Williams Syndrom. Try looking it up on Wikipedia. They'll probably explain it better than I can. :-) Oh, and I don't know anyone with Williams Syndrom, I've just heard of it. :-)
(August 2, 2011 - 8:19 pm)
You mean James from this year? No, I thought he had tourette syndrome.
(August 3, 2011 - 2:33 pm)
I do know from a dictionary site that there has been at least one American Idol contestant with both Asperger's and Tourette's; I don't know of one with AS and cerebral palsy, but there might have been one, since I know nothing about American Idol.
Asperger's and CP don't hinder singing ability (well, I don't know much about CP, so I don't actually know, but I've never gotten that impression), as far as I know, but Tourette's potentially could, I think, although I don't know much about it and could be wrong (I'm afraid the only one of these I know anything whatsoever about is autism, and that's only because I have Asperger's), so that's kind of amazing.
I don't have any siblings with special needs, but I do have a grandmother with them. She has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and I think it's made things extremely difficult for her, my mom, and my aunts, especially my aunt Penny, the eldest. I only visit my grandmother occasionally, though. I usually enjoy it, but sometimes she and my mom argue... She gets delusions about members of the family (not me, as far as I know) that are rather insulting. I can't imagine what it must be like for her, thinking that horrible things are happening and no-one will believe her or everyone's pretending otherwise and being forced to take pills she thinks she doesn't need, or for my mom, hearing from her mother that she shoplifts and had to put me in foster care and not being able to convince my grandmother otherwise. That doesn't happen the majority of the time, though, and when she's in a rational mood, she's really, really nice.
I think I have a great-aunt with Down's syndrome, but I've only met her once.
Have any of those of you with autistic siblings read any of Temple Grandin's books? They're really amazing. I've read some about animal behavior, too, which are also amazing, but that's kind of irrelevant.
(August 3, 2011 - 11:13 pm)
re: AS and performing: I don't see that it does. I mean, I'm sure there are Aspies who can't perform, but that's true of people in general. I know for me, a lot of the obsessive/fixative qualities normally associated with Aspies are probably the only reason I can perform, because it helps me get into character. I'd think that performance abilities are more based on the person rather than the, for lack of a better word, disorder.
re: relatives with disorders: That does sound tough. I don't know anyone with schizophrenia, but from what I've read about it it sounds really awful both to experience and to have to deal with. :(
In my own family I have an aunt with bipolar disorder on dad's side, and on mother's side there's at least three people including myself who have been formally diagnosed with Asperger's. My cousin Cathy has it the worst, as she's kind of straddling the fence between Asperger's and classic autism. Also, my grandmother on mother's side has generalized anxiety disorder, which is more or less self explanatory. She's also currently being treated for depression.
re: Temple Grandin: My sister isn't an Aspie or autistic, but TG's books are on my list to read. I've been putting it off because mother forced me to watch the movie based on her memoir... thing shortly after I was diagnosed with Asperger's, and the entire. movie. was spent with her making comments that I think were meant to reassure me or something but came off as more as a mix of "See you can use this condition as an excuse for your innumerable social problems! You're not a failure after all!" and "This doesn't mean you shouldn't try to conform absolutely with my vision of your future!" Anyway, yeah, not a good experience. /whining
(August 3, 2011 - 11:41 pm)
re: AS and performing: I agree. I've never had any trouble with performing, personally; I don't think it's had any effect on me in that area at all. Some people might be bothered by all the noise and cheering and everything, but there are also apparently people who perform better because of it like you do, so I don't think you can really say that it has much effect. Tourette's syndrome certainly could, though, although I'm sure it depends on what symptoms you have.
My aunt Penny has Asperger's, but I don't know whether she's been formerly diagnosed with it or not. I know she's been diagnosed with something, but she's also depressed, so I don't know...
That... doesn't sound like a good experience. I watched it with my family, but they understood that my self-esteem was definitely not lower than it should be and even if it were that would not help, and also that what I had was considerably milder than what she had, so we all enjoyed it very much with few interruptions. Also I'd already read and loved 2 of the books. One of them I'd actually picked up in the zoology section of the library without realizing it was by her.
Do you think it would be easier to read without being constantly reminded if you read one of her animal behavior books first? They're also very good, although I don't know whether you have even the slightest interest in animal behavior, and if you don't, it would be pointless to read books about it. I've been semi-obsessed with it since I was 8 (I've learned not to say too much about it by now, so you may not have noticed, but I definitely am; you should have heard me then!), so I love reading about it, but I don't really know what most people would think.
I should note, though, that a lot of what she says involves thinking in pictures, so if you don't, a lot of it won't directly apply to you even to a degree. Usually, when she talks about things, I'll be between the normal and autistic points somewhere, but you have Asperger's and don't think visually, from what she's said, you might be somewhere else entirely that she doesn't go into much. Well, not somewhere else entirely, but... it's complicated. I do think visually, although not to as much of a degree as her, so I can relate to a lot (but certainly not all) of the things she says in that area, but I don't know if you do...?
(August 4, 2011 - 3:33 pm)
Oh yeah. :( Oh well....still cool!
(August 4, 2011 - 5:29 pm)
James had Tourettes for sure.
(August 3, 2011 - 7:59 pm)