about autism ; an informative thread by yours truly

i am making this thread because in my life i have met very, very disrespectful people who were insanely rude to my brothers for doing something they can’t even help and i know this won’t inform everyone but i still want some people to know and who knows, this might help someone

so of course i am not speaking for every autistic person ever and i’m not even autistic but i am speaking at all because both of my little brothers are level 3 autistic and some people need to know how to handle them/be respectful

this is speaking from my experiences

i will start with info about my youngest brother [insert picture]

he is 3 years old and he has level 3 autism
he part of a branch of nonverbal autism but that does NOT mean he is can’t talk
it just means he can’t form complete sentences well, can’t complete conversations, etc +

so Oliver, the brother, has echolalia and hyperlexia
echolalia is where you just copy what people say, like a parrot, and, when it comes to oliver, can’t or rarely can form his own sentences to tell you something
[ignore bgm]
notice how in the video he copies everything i say

he also has hyperlexia which pretty much means he’s a genius when it comes to numbers and letters
he can count up to the 900s in english if he wanted to and i’m sure the 1000s but he’s a baby and we don’t want to stress him so much so,, no videos
but he can say the numbers of +

those in the thousands (he has read/said numbers like 8,412)
his extent to knowledge of numbers goes all the way to counting to 10 in spanish even though we do not live in a spanish-speaking area and don’t know anyone who speaks spanish
[ignore my face]

btw in the video notice how i say uno
i say this so it can signify him to speak in spanish and not english

also we’re both white as hell and as i said we don’t know any spanish speakers so the accents/way we’re saying it is NOT correct and i’m sorry

it is not only numbers he is like this with but letters too
he can say the alphabet, no matter the starting point, spell words that are high above his level, and he can say pretty much any word as long as you say it first

now to how to help him if you ever have him or someone similar in a crisis, or if you are babysitting someone similar
pretty much any situation where you need to calm them down

so let me clear this up
he is still autistic
he can not expresses his emotions well +

he can not necessarily control what he does

to calm him down we usually count, sing the abcs, or quiz him on shapes (another part of his hyperlexia)
if none of that works we then try and see if he’s hungry
if none of that works, i’m not sure since he’s still a baby and babies

do baby things all the time,,, like cry.

things to avoid doing with him is, when he is mad, avoid directly touching him in any form
he is the more violent of my brothers and where my other brother hurts himself when mad, Oliver will hurt YOU when mad. If you come into his +

tw // images of blood and bite
space when he is mad he will bite you, hit you, and i literally have a busted lip right now thanks to me making him upset.
if you want to play with him he doesn’t know how to make conversation, so try bonding with him over things you know he likes +

and you can always put on educational baby shows that work with numbers and letters to calm him down since that’s what he likes

things he will do in public is: cough and sneeze without covering his nose and mouth (as would any baby), he will yell things and if you say +

“be quiet” he will just yell it back at you, he also has the tendency to pull hair and mess with people’s shirts and necklaces
DO NOT WEAR DANGLY EARRINGS THEY WILL GET RIPPED OUT

okay now onto my other brother, he is more severe, so that means he has less interests, unlike oliver, BUT he will have a larger section on caring for him

my other brother is named Drake, he is 10, and he is a level 3 COMPLETELY nonverbal autistic
he can’t say anything at all and has to resort to noises and actions for anything
[ignore bgm]
in the video you can see that he is humming and making noises instead of talking, that is +

all he CAN do
the noises he was making in the video were happy ones btw and he is very affectionate when comfortable with you (adorable i know)

drake is possibly the most severe type of autistic, at least of those i’ve come across

Drake finds enjoyment more in electronics, he likes (as you can see in the picture) piracy warning pictures,,, no one is really sure why he likes these, as we’re pretty sure he can’t read, but he does none the less and this leads to the bad part
he HAS to have an electronic

or he has a complete meltdown
which,,, oh my god-
i really need to talk about his meltdowns, as they do happen in public as well, he isn’t shy

his meltdowns, since he is extremely strong, are really really dangerous to those around him AND himself

tw // mentions of blood

as i mentioned earlier, Oliver tends to hit other people, Drake tends to go for himself
drake has scar-like calluses on his hand from pinching, he bites himself, and has made himself bleed by doing these things. he kicks and has almost broken his toes +

by kicking solid concrete repeatedly in sandals
he doesn’t seem to care about the pain, as long as he does it, he wants to stop his overload (autistic people have sensory overloads)
so when he has a meltdown we need to calm him down quickly, which usually means +

giving him food he likes, an electronic, and if everything is too much we have him leave the room

now onto stuff he will do in public:

the number #1 thing he gets judged or made fun of for is that his noises are very very loud sometimes and can be very disruptive

especially if we are in a nice restaurant or a hotel where his noises, kicking, and jumping can be heard through the walls and floor. This can cause a disturbance to people and i PROMISE we are trying to get him to stop, it just takes a little bit for him to de-tense

. https://twitter.com/bbyhwng/status/1299765632972525574