Kids Master Skills BLOG

The first few weeks of school often go smoothly. Everyone is fresh, polite, and hopeful. But for many Autistic students, that “honeymoon” depends on masking—suppressing natural regulation needs and social communication differences to blend in.

Sometimes I think how lucky I was that my handwriting came easily. Because if my teacher had ever tried to place her hand over mine — or under it — to guide my pencil, the very thing meant to help would have unsettled me.

But as  I reflect on this now —both as a neuroaffirming OT and as an Autistic person—I see something different. I see a child whose nervous system is communicating . . . something.