James's Notebook

                        In a previous post of mine I spoke about the importance of concise speech in this post I will explain why I value being straight forward when I speak. The main reason why I find straight forward communication important is because I take things very literally especially when it comes down to the very small details of how a person communicates with me. The next reason why I value straight forward communication is due to the fact that I have a difficult time with recognizing an individuals tone of voice which makes challenging for me to understand what message a person is trying to convey to me and same is said about social cues or body language. In conclusion the reason why I value straightforward communication is due to the fact that I have a difficult time with understanding what an individual is trying to discuss with me, the fact that i have a difficult time with recognizing social cues.

                In my previous post I explained how to help an autistic person and in that post I briefly talked about having concise speech in this post I will explain why is that important to me. The first reason why I value concise speech is due to the fact that I take things very literally whether that would be when I am taking in directions from a teacher at school or when I'm hanging out with friends and we are joking around. The next reason why I value concise speech is because I find it rude when people are speaking with me and they are not being direct with their communication an example of this would be when I am trying to start a conversation and people are only giving me one word answers in the conversation. The last reason why I value concise speech is because it is difficult for me to make friends as it is and when people don't want to communicate with me and don't convey that in any way I find it annoying when they do this. In ...

          Hello everyone thank you all for all of your love and support I never would have expected myself to be able to reach up to this level of support and I never would have expected all this love from each and everyone of you whether that be reading the newest or oldest entries of James's notebook or watching my videos on social media. now as of lately I'm sure that you have all been wondering where I have been these past couple of months the reason why I have not been able to post as much as I have used to is because I have been recently dealing with a lot of crazy life events with a lot of losses related with my family and lots of school work that I have been currently dealing with but rest assured I will be able to post more content very soon thank you again for all of your love and support everyone! 

                In my previous post I briefly discussed how occupational therapy helped me in this post I will be going into further detail on how it did just that. The first thing that occupational therapy did was expose me to different sound frequencies through a form of music therapy called listening therapy  which helped by getting me used to those different sounds so that I don't get overwhelmed by them. The next thing that it did was that it helped me learn to manage my stress levels or as they described it "my engine" and the way that this had helped was by allowing me to know when I am feeling overwhelmed so that I could tell my parents or a trusted loved one that I need pressure, which I have explained in an old post of mine titled "how I don't get overwhelmed". The last thing that occupational therapy did was identify my lifelong Migraine that I had, which also I discussed in another old post of mine titled "The Challenges...

           something that I have been asked a lot is how can I help an autistic person, in this post I will discuss how to do just that. The first thing that me and my parents did was to first take me to occupational therapy, this helped me by first teaching me self control and how to manage my stress levels this was vital for my growth as person so that I could be able to learn to navigate my surroundings and deal with stressful situations. The next step that we took was to learn a sport or a skill that I enjoy doing, for me it was mixed martial arts as I have explained in an old post of mine titled "how martial arts helped me" we then learned that by having a sport or skill like MMA I would receive physical input which helped me learn to interact with others and learn to navigate conflict. The last step that me and my parents took was to be thorough with what they say and telling me what is about to happen, when is it going to happen and of course ho...

                In my pervious post I discussed what makes me feel overwhelmed in this post I will discuss how you could help a loved one with autism not feel overwhelmed. The first step to take is to first pay attention to how they are feeling and notice their social cues towards what is causing them stress this could range from yelling, spinning, pacing or heavy breathing I have noticed that when I am in events that cause me high amounts of stress I do these things to help alleviate my stress levels this is similar to stimming which helps with stimulating my mind to be in the present moment. The next step to take is to ask them "do you need help" by doing this you show that you care about them and that you are there for them, then ask if they are feeling overwhelmed and if the answer is "yes" ask them if they would like pressure or as many people describe it a hug. once pressure is administered the individual will calm down and I would know...