Day 19: What Does Art Have to Do With Autism?

My 20 Days of Wiping the Slate Clean took a different direction.  I thought it was all about getting some projects finished and getting some things cleaned out.   But I have been consumed with reading a dialogue between parents and adults with autism here.   I can't really express all that I am thinking and feeling here on this blog - it's supposed to be about my art, y'know.   But reading these dialogues has been challenging some of my viewpoints about autism.   I've been the parent of a child with autism for a long time, but we can always learn and grow. And one of the very reasons I am an artist flows out of being the mother of a child with autism.   In future, I'm going to talk about family issues in a different place, but if someone learns about autism here, that's great, too.

I've put some links about autism back here on this blog in the sidebar.  I have a links blog I made because my own blog was so decorated with links to other sites it was hard to find my own content here.   So I gave them their own home.

New Diagnosis of Autism?

If your child is newly diagnosed,  then you should go here  to a post on Autism Speaks about new diagnosis and here to learn how to avoid falling into an autism cult.  Here is a link to a therapist I respect greatly who has some resources online. 

Art and Autism?

Day after tomorrow 31 Days of Art begins here on my blog.   One of the projects will be my sons and I  making a large art piece for our living room.   It's the room that I am trying to transform from creepy to happy or at the very least "cozy".   I think we're getting there.   My younger son had a really interesting (and messy!) idea about how to go about this painting.    So stay tuned.