Blog Tour for Gather.com

For the past several years I have been joining online communities to connect with other parents who have kids with autism. I started with epinions.com in 2000 before finding Gather.com in August of 2006 CafeMom.com was the following summer along with Wish Upon A Hero.com also known as WUAH, with Twitter.com June of 2008, as well as this blog last summer.

The summer months are when I come across these online communities and expand my relationships and do my part to promote autism awareness. There are many rewards to finding another community to become part of, plus you find some of the same friends from other sites. Each site has their own style so you get to gain new insights from those previous relationships while delving into new opportunities at each site.

I wrote about my impressions of Gather.com back in October of 2006. I was so enthusiastic with the site that I created almost twenty groups for members to belong to where they could post articles, videos, photos and comment on other posts. Every idea I had would mean a new group.

The site has grown and expanded with options over the years to include bookmarks and sharing of posts, pings on profile pages, spotlighting of our own articles for our profile page and having more information on members to help determine if you want to become friends. You can delete a comment on any of your posts, you can remove the option of ratings for anything you post also. Groups can be private for only family members if you choose. Your friends can be categorized by friends, family and colleagues. There are many options on gather.com to read and interact with others plus the fun in earning points for gift cards. The holidays are five months away - time to prepare is now.

Meet people and make new friends is the gather motto. Once you become a member you can search by your location, interest or age group to find conversations and groups to join. At your home page the links to utilize include:

my posts, my photos, my videos, my comments, my friends and my groups. Also the option for guarded viewing is on this page, plus email preferences, your account settings, friend updates are here and comments from your friends on posts around the site.

Your gather points are posted next to your photo or avatar. This is a clickable link so you can find the gift cards available for your point total. The minimum to redeem is 315 points. There are options to get paid through paypal as well. I received a Borders card in the mail today. I redeemed last month. The gather home office is in Boston, Founder and CEO is Tom Gerace. I still get notified when Tom writes a new post. The letter with the gift card thanks you for making gather such a special place. "We love sharing our success with you."

Just last month was an opportunity for the first 500 Gather Moms to fill out the 2009 summer survey and receive 50 gather points. There are competitions, author chats, review opportunities and contests to take part in on gather.com.

My teenage son has enjoyed over the years looking at photos of cats on gather.com. He will tell me what the rating should be and help with the comment. There are options to rate and comment posts, pictures and videos. You can set which groups are your favorite and change your settings to not receive emails from every group. If you join many groups there is the section at the bottom of your posts where you need t choose which group your photo, post or video gets linked up to.

Some groups are very strict in what they will accept, there are tags that are helpful to find posts as well. My groups are moderated so I need to go into my home page and click on group tasks to find the new content and approve it on a weekly basis. Gather.com also takes copyright infringement very seriously. There are groups on this topic as well.

You will meet many new people who share similar interests, post poetry, short stories, reviews of books and other products, share family experiences and post coupon codes to get deals at each week. Now for summer the reading is about vacations, picnics, movies, favorite television shows and recipes.

There was a children's health product that had been recalled. I wrote a post complaining about this and wanting to know what other parents were using. This article continued to get comments as it was found in online searches. Through these comments I learned of two new products that were just as good that I started purchasing and still use to this day.

At your home page you will see what your friends are posting, what activity is happening in groups, recent comments and photos. There are many groups to discuss and learn about the site as well. This past week there was an offer to win a free book

The first year I joined gather.com I stock piled 7 or 8 B+N gift cards for holiday shopping for my kids. Although B+N is no longer an option, Borders, Macy's and CVS have been my gift cards of choice since my first year. I have always received my gift cards within three weeks. You earn points for everything you do on the site. To join gather there are links for you to place on your blog or site, plus you can send invitations. There was a referral program with points earned for new members. I have had a banner on my blog since I started it.



I highly recommend other bloggers join gather.com to form new bonds with those who have similar tastes. There have been cruises for members to attend and meet in person. Members share about their writings and new books, family ventures and find out about other places around the world from the diverse mix of members from all over.

Some of the groups I created include:

autism families

associated content writers

Beauty 101


This is the first blog tour I have signed up with Mom Central since my blog was accepted into their program. Due to the fact that I have personal experience this is a perfect fit for me.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog and giveaway campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Gather. Mom Central sent me a gift cad to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Some New Skills For My Autistic Son

We are wrapping up spring break for my son Matthew while my other son Nicholas has been on his spring break from California Virtual Academy since Friday. As I mentioned in recent articles Matthew has been in good moods lately and not having serious behavior issues.

I wanted to make note of some new skills he has shown this past week. Normally when Matthew comes home from school he will just leave his jacket somewhere in the living room on his way to the bedroom to remove his sneakers. He will place the sneakers in the crate where shoes are stored. Next he goes through his backpack for homework.

While we went on some errands this past week Matthew removed his coat and then proceeded to fix the arms so they were not inside out. He left the jacket on the bed instead of the floor.

The weather here has been mixed with one day wearing short sleeves and no jacket, but then the following day needing a jacket. I had asked Matthew to get his jacket. He brought me his heavier jacket so I told him that was not the right one. A few seconds later he was in front of me with the same jacket along with a hanger. I was impressed since it is hard for him to reach the bar with the hangers.

When I ask Matthew to remove his socks he will just take them off and leave them there on the floor inside out. This week he sat there and fixed them by inserting his hand in and pulling the sock out. This is much better than a rolled ball of socks on the floor.

I usually give him his meds around 5:15 so that he is asleep between 7:00 and 7:30 pm. On spring break I wanted to sleep in a little so I gave him his meds later, one day by even an hour. He still wanted to go to bed at the same time. He knows what show is on Noggin when he is in bed, so there was no escaping the usual bedtime.

He has two bottom corner teeth coming in, which appears to be bothering him as he is putting his hand in his mouth to touch them. He now is going to the mirror in the kitchen and regularly looking at himself. I have never seen him do this before and not even Nicholas who is 14 does this. It is funny to see Matt look in the mirror, open his mouth and look inside. Plus he is touching his hair and smiling or laughing at the mirror. He seems like a young teen checking himself out.

While at the grocery store he chose a box of unsalted saltines. I figured if he was not interested in eating them they were good for soup for me and Nicholas. Turns out Matthew likes the saltines and handed me the last package from the box this morning to put into a baggie so he can have some throughout the day.

Matthew will turn 13 on June 30th. He loves to look through photo albums.

Notes from Food Aversions Webinar

I spent two hours on Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009 listening in on a Teleseminar thru Moms Fighting Autism that was moderated by Chantal Sicile-Kira. The speaker who responded to questions posed beforehand and during the Webinar was Dr. Lori Ensperger.

The topic Autism, Food Aversions, and Eating Challenges: Effective Answers that Help

I spent the time typing my notes on twitter, basically I tweeted them instead of handwriting in a notebook like I had planned to do. On twitter you use 140 characters, so these will be brief tips I typed out while listening. The following are those tweets:

At the start of the webinar Dr. Ensperger mentioned her book, Just Take A Bite.

Dr says there is no scientific evidence on gfcf diet helping kids with autism. she follows evidence based method.

statististics for typical child to acquire a new food - introduce peaches or broccoli - can take several months based on research.

can take up to ten-fifteen times for the 1-2 yr old to take to a new food - accept it, ones with dev disabilities - put food on plate.

an offer of food is not the same as forcing a child to eat, it means just putting it on the plate.

offer new gfcf food to pair it with another food they are eating, use in systematic way, small portion of item that might have gluten.

when trying new foods have foods that we are comfortable with, feel safe with the food, 3 months not long time to do diet 4 yr old.

does not want to see a 4 yr old getting hungry since not into the gfcf, do not take all foods away at one time from child, explore new food.

another question on gfcf. she is reminding about her position that relies heavily on science for the gfcf diet, mentioning the cost now.

check with Ped for an allergy, many have not mentioned age of their child in their questions, talk about food jags now, we have those.

food jag - same food, same cup, same way the food is on plate, certain brand name only, maybe even music in background all the time.

food jags are normal typical behavior - a 2 yr old might eat peanut butter every day for a month, those with ASD do food jags for yrs.

my son used to have bacon breakfast, hotdog for lunch, nuggets for dinner, now none of those,she says ASD kids do not go back to food jags.

happens to me where I stock up on item,then food jag stops, left with lots food serious issue she cautions parents dont support food jags.

keep exposing them with changes, if always chicken nuggets to turkey nuggets, change brand of nuggets, add sauce, change fork.

if we keep their food jags in tact and no changes, they will eventually stop and never go back to that food again, need to change it up.

parental responsibility, how to change mac & cheese, put food coloring in it, does not change taste, add texture, make slight gentle changes.

do not hide or sneak foods into another food doesn not work guess I will not be buying Jerry Seinfelds wife book.

she is talking about sensory issues and the temp of the foods and how they work for or against trying a new food.

just becasuse you gag does not mean you have low muscle tone. Book covers signals in low muscle tone - Just take a bite (book)

practice chewing with chewy tubes - wont work for my kids she recommends Thera Pro website, always adult supervision.

put knot in chewy tube, have kid play tug and war to practice swallowing techniques, use baby safe feeder from target.

gagging can be a learned behavior that kids use to get food away from them. If I gag mom takes food away.

kiss the food goodbye, do not over react to gagging, be calm, leave it there, maybe tomorrow we will try again.

food meal phobia - real thing - fearful of putting food in our mouth, fear of new foods, a true fear (yes I have that with seafood)

Chantal Sicile-Kira wants to know how cultural the foods of kids with autism is, doesnt think kids in France eat mac/ch,, fries & nuggets.

food jags, list of foods kids eat is prevalent in other countries too, Lorna Wing did study at her clinic, 70% of kids in UK had aversions.

question about school OTs not working on feeding since it is not educational, an issue heard often that public schools are responsible.

school OTs and SLPS are not taught on feeding aversions, need to be highly trained, can do more damage if not trained, oral motor dev

I heard that yrs ago from two diff OTs, she says put it in writing, do ltr to school by registered mail, been denied OT svcs, kid not eating

child with low weight, going all day without eating, school does need to address this as it is impacting their education/learning, advocate

listening to the teleseminar now, typically ASD kids eat mac/cheese, hot dogs, fries and chicken nuggets, that is what they stated, google?

talking about window of opportunity = question reading now

one of the myths is that children are not going to starve themselves, not true among ASD kids

Ellen Satter - she says she is a role model for mothers, a registered Dietitian, how to get your kid to eat but not too much.

How to get kid to eat, but not too much

we are responsible for where kids eat, how often they eat, the serving size, not following parent responsibiltiesi if allowing these

here are my articles for Feeding Teens, any suggestions let me know.

www.usda.gov - food pyramid for kids - says print and put on refrigerator

always a serving size of preferred food so kid can make transition to a new food

1 hr done, none of my questions yet, although she seemed to group many about trying new foods & mentioned older kids, refer to me maybe

she is talking about fight or flight over food, going over rules for parents, start a schedule for food, check for times to eat

4 yr old is too young to be picking out their own food, parents responsibility, appropriate and child friendly foods for 4 yr old

www.new-vis.com New Vision - site to see Suzanne Evan morris, on oral motor stuff, OT, etc

talking about me right now, doing my links for my review of her book

talking about utensils from my question

kids only use fingers for food, goes back to sensory processing, body awareness, spatial awareness, proprioception, no body awareness

after trying several times can use fingers easier, have child eat in front of mirror, allow them to use visual system to over compensate

can see the fork in the mirror, motor planning will assist child in using the utensil. plastic ones instead of medal (yes) safe, coated one

weighted utensils, proprioceptive delay, use this instead, grasps similar to pencil grips, neat answers

lil dipper from Gerber is a good spoon with chunky grip, spoon part is small with a guard so child cannot get in too far, no gagging

Gerber LIL DIPPER spoon, baby safe feeder - recommended items for kids at any age

bowling with food, bop for kiwi or chicken legs, put music on, 5-10 mins daily, not forced and no pressure there, away from table

playing with food is separate from eating time, reason why not at table for play, use your imagination to create ways to introduce new foods

they are more willing to move along those 35 steps to tryng food, kiss it goodbye, get used to it gently

play guess the food, get shoe box, put hole in bottom, put food in there, they need to feel food in the mystery box, they might lick it too

try to stay calm and not react to their trying new food, do not need to call grandma and not over zealous, puts pressure on kid

do an obstacle course on foods,like to feel, - movement/motivating, pillows to crawl under box crawl over - our OT used to put food on swing

schools need to do ongoing assessment for preferred items, they dont like to use food as reinforcer at school

kid motivated by edibles, get sugar free gummie bears at the diabetic aisle for kids that are heavier, music is good motivator

tangible or activity based reinforcers at school, at home get kids to experience different things, like sports and music,books, etc

www.dole.com tips for parents to introduce foods, fruit and veggie bingo game and talk tools is another company we have their stuff too

talking about kids seeing dentist, food issues can be related to issues in their mouth, yep my kid lost a tooth recently, go to CHLA

cavities affects if doing a feeding program, especially with textures, smells, she mentioned my name again about my review of her book

I think I have a review on amazon, if not willl get one there drlori@cox.net - her email with questions, can give you answers

her book is from future horizons, just take a bite sicilekira@mac.com that is Chantal Sicile-Kira email address, has son 20 with ASD

Webinar has finished.

My Podcast on Autism Hangout

Check out my Podcast of December 30, 2008 on Autism Hangout, where I discussed autism twitter day, autism articles at BellaOnline and a future autism twitter day in April of 2009.

RSVP for Autism Twitter Day

Please join in on autism twitter day Tuesday, December 16, 2008 to promote positive autism awareness. There are blog posts here showing the prizes to be awarded based on your autism knowledge.

There will be panel members at 9AM, 12:30PM and 8:00PM pacific standard time. Questions will be tweeted at those times as well as throughout the day. Please follow and use #ASD hashtag to post on autism by sharing about your family experience, school, bus, behavior, therapies, diets, social skills, independent living, hygiene, bullying, IEPs, respite, books, toys, etc. that have helped your family. This includes sharing links to your sites and blog posts.

This is open to twitter members, specifically those who are members of the autism community, whether it be a parent, sibling or relative. If you are on the spectrum you are welcome to take part. Anyone can take part to learn more about autism spectrum disorders. Most of the prizes are geared to children and young adults with autism or asperger syndrome. Some prizes are available to US members only, others are for US and Canada with International available for a few as well. It will be noted when tweeting about the prize who is eligible to receive it.

I do recommend opening one window in www.summize.com to follow #ASD and have one window open in twitter to post your own tweets. You will click on reply at summize to tweets you see in summize and this will open a new window with the reply @ already listed in box to tweet.
Join us:

DATE: Tuesday, December 16
TIME: throughout the day, panel times 9AM, 12:30PM and 8PM PST/ Noon, 3:30 and 11 PM EST)
PLACE: www.twitter.com and www.summize.com to follow along
WHO: see panel link on blog
TO DO: RSVP at Mr. Linky then check back and click on the names listed there to "follow" them on Twitter.
RSVP: Enter your twitter ID (e.g., autismfamily) in Mr. Linky and your twitter URL (e.g., http://twitter.com/autismfamily). NOTE: Please do not enter your blog URL here!

Autism Twitter Day

I am putting together an event at Twitter to promote positive autism awareness. This is still in the planning stage and not yet finalized on the date, number of hours and time frame for this to take place.

I placed an inquiry on HARO - Help A Reporter Out last week. Here is that posting which appeared in the afternoon edition Thursday, November 20, 2008:

"Will be promoting positive autism awareness on twitter one day in mid December. Seeking products geared to the autism and asperger community to give away as prizes for questions answered and pop quizzes on the subject. Looking for products to cover all age groups and including sensory type items. Here is a listing showing all those in the autism/asperger community on Twitter.

I can also do reviews on my autism site. I am listed at www.twitter.com/autismfamily Help brighten the lives of autism families by contributing to this positive event."

If you are also a member of twitter or joining twitter, please post your ID here so I can add it to the page listing all autism connections. If you have a product you would like to offer for one of the giveaways please contact me through email listed at this blog or through twitter direct message system (DM).

I would like to find out when the majority of families who are on twitter can participate in this event. I have a poll here for a few days, please comment here in regard to your vote.

I need to know if it is best on a weekend day or weekday. I see many events taking place on twitter and they all seem to be at night on a weekday. I am on the west coast and would prefer Friday or Tuesday so I can prepare and be ready while my other son is at school. I am running for Secretary of the CAC with LAUSD and will be at elections on Monday.

I have been thinking that 4-6 hours is too long and would like to try it at two to three hours. If you have an opinion on this please give me some feedback so I can finalize this before the end of this month, get a logo or something for a button to promote the event and share with others. Plus I still need to get all the pics of the giveaways and have a sign up with Mr. Linky for those who want to attend.

Again, please take part in the poll and offer any thoughts in the comments. I am using my Pecs Club Ning Site and created an autism twitter group to post ideas and examples, a brainstorming group for this event.

A BidetSpa is what this Autism Family needs

I was very excited to read a blog post on a new bidet toilet seat that was being utilized by a special needs girl in the same age range as my nonverbal autistic son Matthew. I have wanted a bidet for years and have researched styles and brands often. My favorites folder has several saved from various searches.

The one and only time I have ever seen a bidet toilet was during my high school years back in New Jersey. A friend had a modern white house with an intercom system, a button to call the fire department, (which I did by accident once) and the bidet in a large bathroom.

Since my adult years I have been plagued with Hemorrhoids. My Mother mentioned to me long ago she had them, so this might be another hereditary thing that passed on to me like the asthma and eczema I have been plagued with my whole life.

In fact, several years ago I had contact with my first husband (86-89) for some reason I cannot recall, and the first thing he asked me, (with his brother on the other phone) was if I still had Hemorrhoids. That was a reminder to me of why I left him in the first place, very childish. Who wants to be remembered for their Hemorrhoids? The horror of it all. I learned earlier this year that he passed away a year ago in a car accident.

My nonverbal son Matthew is on the autism spectrum and has sensory issues as well. He has had two solid bowel movements in his twelve years that I can recall. The first one was the day he went on Ensure Plus from regular milk. The second time was the first day he started taking Risperdal. This was in 2003 when the antipsychotic was prescribed only for Schizophrenia treatment and has since added autistic disorder. Their father suffers from Paranoid Schizophrena. I have sole physical and legal custody. All my family is in New Jersey and we are in California. I am the home health care worker for my son Matthew through the State of California. (IHSS)

Matthew liked the Ensure Pudding and moved on to soy yogurt for a few years and now has regular vanilla pudding or french pudding yogurt once in awhile in his lunch at school. He also tried the Naturade Total Soy drink supplement before just drinking regular soymilk and rice drink. I have been toying with the idea of adding Almond Milk to his diet.

Matthew has been wearing the Huggies GoodNites for many years now. Insurance covers five cases per month.

We have been living in a duplex for ten years now with one bathroom. There is a small window that opens out to the neighbors driveway and entrance gate to their house. The venilation fan stopped working last summer and I have an oscillating tower fan hooked up to an extension cord under a rug to the outlet. With the addition of the feral cat from outside who broke his leg one year ago, his litter box is now in the bathroom as well.

This is one of the hottest rooms in the house and unbearable for me with my severe eczema. I am regularly prescribed Prednisone and have even received a shot of cortisone in the ER a few years ago and earlier this year at a clinic. The side effects are depression, mood swings, personality changes, weight gain and vision issues. I have been through all these side effects, with vision problems now surfacing. I recently learned my Mother had cataracts, so that might be next for me.

I am a single mother to two boys on opposite ends of the autism spectrum. They are fifteen months apart at 12 and 13. I homeschool Nicholas who is now in seventh grade. Matthew just started Middle School, takes the bus with his male aide. He is in a MRS class, which means Mental Retardation Severe. He never received speech therapy last year due to shortage within LAUSD and now he is on wait list at his present school. He also receives Adaptive PE and Occupational Therapy. There was feeding therapy for five years and one year of Floortime in the home.

Matthew has several diaper changes a day, sometimes as often as every half hour. I mentioned earlier he has had two solid bowel movements. It is very rare for a diaper to be filled with just urine. I would characterize the diaper contents similar to creamy peanut butter.

Due to my severe eczema I can only use one kind of baby wipes, since the others have ingredients that burn my hands. I cannot wear any type of glove beside cotton gloves, (due to a latex allergy) that I have purchased in the past by the dozen on ebay and currently at Walgreens for five dollars a pair. I hardly use detergent at the laundromat due to my sensitivities, nor do I use dryer sheets, bleach or softener. The cotton gloves do not last long and my son has had many rashes.

With a BidetSpa I would get the relief needed from the posterior wash and the feminine wash while my son will get a more thorough cleaning without having to endure wipes, Baby Powder and rash cream. He is in Middle School and in Physical Education, doing laps around the track while wearing a diaper. I cannot do this alone and have purchased The Potty Journey and Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism books for guidance.

With the addition of the BidetSpa we would save money on purchasing all the extras, my skin would not have to endure a hot bathroom and Matthew would be cleaner with less irritation. This is the one component we need to start toilet training and would be a blessing for all of us.

Just last year we got a new toilet seat and a few days ago a new flapper for the toilet since it broke in half before Matthew got home and the landlord was next door working - perfect timing for once. We would love the remote control, if that is included in the giveaway. The automatic deodorizer sounds like a dream for us and the bathroom. All the features including the soft lid are appealing to this autism family household. My 13 year old would even share his opinion in a review posted here on the blog and another more extensive one at the Autism Spectrum Disorders site and we may even be able to get the product added to the Epinions site.

The BidetSpa features include a Urine Spray Guard and an Occupie Seat Sensor, which means it will only work when someone is sitting on it and not from pushing buttons.

This family will be a happy CleanButt family. I already ordered the Free 8 minute DVD to learn more about their product. Please keep your fingers crossed that we win the giveaway, and if you are in the Los Angeles area you may come over and test it out, when Matthew is in school.

Seeking Toy Reviews for Kids on the Autism Spectrum

I am hoping to find some families that have a child on the autism spectrum that can share a review on a toy, game, sensory item or something similar. If you are not already an Amazon Associate, I suggest Signing Up for their affiliate program.

The reviews I am requesting are for the Autism Spectrum Disorders site at BellaOnline. September is just about here and traffic pick up at this time for families looking for holiday gifts for their children on the Autism Spectrum.

I am a single parent to two boys on opposite ends of the spectrum, ages 12 and 13. I am interested in getting some reviews from families who have girls and also younger children so there is something recommended on the site for all ages. This call also goes out to those with children who have the diagnosis of PDD-NOS or Asperger Syndrome.

I have been writing at BellaOnline since June of 2005. There is a 400 word minimum for articles. This should be no problem. My articles average 1000+ words. You will need to sign a Guest Contributor Agreement. This is what an article consists of:

Title - under 50 characters
Article Author - you would be listed here as guest author
Date - the article stays in archives and under subject header (toys, music, etc)
Article description - this is 300 characters
Keywords - under 300 characters
Text - 400 word minimum
Subject - I will help with this
Three links - these would be other articles on my site linked at bottom

You can do a sentence or two bio that can be placed at the bottom of the article and include your personal site or blog. Give me your amazon ID and the item on amazon you are reviewing and I will add that to the article. While the article is on the site you will get the amazon associate credit. Articles are never deleted so the article could be at the site for several years. I can help you with the title, description and key words as well.

Here are some examples of mine:

Crayola Folding Table Top Art Easel

This example has more than one product being reviewed, which is also a possiility should guest contributor have a few items and want to combine into one article. An affiliate link for each item can be placed in the article.

Leap Frog Phonics for the low functioning child

Matching and Sorting Activities for the child on the autism spectrum

Movies for children

Music and Software Reviews


I am looking for families that use toys in their home. This is not for those who own companies to market their products. The site gets 55,000 page views a month. This will be an opportunity for sharing about your family, making some amazon affiliate money and linking to your site. There is no compensation, writing at BellaOnline is a volunteer gig.

A newsletter goes out each week so the article will be linked there. Currently there are 1100 subscribers. An article can be clicked to Digg or Del.icio.us. There is a section where visitors can email an article to a friend, bringing more readers to your article.

BellaOnline does not have a comment section, but there are is a forum for the autism spectrum disorders site. I can start a thread there linking your article and can be a place for discussion of the article.

Here is what a Guest Author article looks like, note the top with the name and bottom with contact info.

Please leave a comment if you are interested and let me know the age, sex and toys or related items you can write on. Remember to check out the guest contributor agreeement as well.

Six Unspectacular Quirks

I was tagged for this meme by Mama Mara. The rules are stated below:

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks you possess.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.


My six quirks:

1. I cannot use a sheet of notebook paper if it has been torn. I have to throw it out in the recycle bin. Also when I remove a sheet from a notebook I have to stand over paperbag for recycling and use a scissor to cut it evenly to remove those ridges. I am happy to report that my 13 year old son on the spectrum does the same thing. We are neat with our papers.

2. I take this a bit further with paper towels and will not use one if I tear it unevenly. I use paper towels to blow my nose, so when the paper towel is torn I will wipe down the sink or stove before tossing it so it got used.

3. I have this fascination with candles. At family dinners and holidays I would sit there and fling my finger back and forth through the candle. I think the last time I did this was when living in NJ and I was showing my nine year old cousin. His mother did not think it was something I should be showing her child. Since it is just me and my two sons on the autism spectrum, ages 12 and 13 there have not been any dinners with candles, so this quirk of mine stays with me.

4. I never have a utensil out when the toaster is plugged in. I had a fascination with this as a child and avoid temptation for me or either of my kids by never having them on the counter at the same time.

5. I must have all hangers facing the same way. This includes the clothing as well. Recently when watching one of the home selling shows on HGTV they told the lady to do this since her closet had a variety of hangers and they were all in different directions. So this is another efficient and neat quirk to have.

6. I always have to have the emergency brake on. This is just in case the car rolls down the hill on the street. I think this does damage to my brakes so I am weaning myself off of this quirk. I even wrote an article awhile ago called Keeping Compulsions in Check, which mentions some of these as well.

Next I need to tag six people to follow suit and post about their quirks.

teen autism
three channels
Autism Insights
Crazy Jugs
Life With Autism
Composter Mom

Twitter Tag

I practically start each day checking out Twitter and end the night or early morning hours by refreshing the page one more time as I pass the computer on my way to bed. So when I came across this twitter tag at Swept Away where I was dropping an Entrecard and seeing twitter caught my eye.

{start copy here}

Rules:
+ Answer all the questions.

+ Add your twitter username to the list and leave a comment on this post so I can add you on the master list.

+ Tag other twitter users you know.


1. Who invited you to join twitter? Lisa Shea

2. How many twitter updates have you made since you signed up? 2,835

3. How many direct messages have you received so far? 220

4. On an average, how many twits do you make a day? 20+

5. How many followers do you have? 461

6. How many are you following? 437

7. Have you ever blocked/denied follow requests? yes, spammers and one recently

8. What did you write in your one line bio? writing on autism and advocating for children to be treated with respect from general public

9. Did you even bother to customize your twitter page? Nope, not interested

10. Do you think twitter is cool or is just a waste of time? cool and neat


Twitters: cherryrose | maileen1| autismfamily | Your Twitter Username

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