Absurdity

There's so many different ways to wire a brain that it's amazing there's even any "normal" people anywhere. My daughter had obvious signs that something was askew but, like every other autistic person, varied results. The biggest thing I felt I needed to do for her was teach her to laugh at things instead of flare up in anger. Her default reaction, from so much frustration in early childhood, was to scream and try to take control herself. I had to teach her to recognize jokes and absurd things, in order to let her know it's okay that this is frustrating; it doesn't help to stomp and scream about it, because that's not a solution. Laughing can lead to better problem solving and more patience. She loves The Far Side comics, because they're all about absurdity. Every day life, for her, has been absurd because she's not in charge of making things the way that's most comfortable for her.