Minutes of the Twenty Ninth
Post-Diagnostic Support Group
24th April 2018
The meeting was attended by 51 people and once again a lovely “Therapy Dog”.
Linda introduced herself and the members of the Axia team who were present.
Dave – Who was conducting the presentation today
Dream – Our IT guy
Ren – Who is now at University studying to be a Mental Health Nurse and is also one of the Anime Amigos
Rhys – One of the Anime Amigos
Elliott – One of the Anime Amigos
Cal – Director and self-proclaimed Nerd Consultant and head of the Film Society and also one of the Anime Amigos
Gail – Administrator
Amy – Administrator and who, as a result of enjoying one of the groups that she attended, decided to join the Axia team
Presentation
Today’s presentation by David Reiser was on “Executive Functioning” an important topic. David announced to the group that his presentation was being recorded for the website. Dave’s presentation slides will be on the website with an audio recording.
There was also quite an interesting discussion about working memory and the power of the mind. It has often been asked if Autistic people’s brains are wired differently – the simple answer to this is “no we don’t”. One day we may find out. There are no studies looking at brain development. There are not enough studies.
Autistica – is a charity which funds and campaigns for research to understand the causes of Autism, particularly as to how to support individuals.
Linda also said that there had recently been an interesting Journal Article on “Masquerading in the Playground”.
We also reinforced Autism + Environment = Outcome.
Overall this was a very interacting presentation again with lots of very interesting contributions from our members.
Break
We broke for drinks and cakes, which again Calvin excelled himself at. There was a Swedish Chocolate Cake and a Spiced Apple Cake.
We resumed to discuss the potential topics for future groups and there had been lots of suggestions and comments.
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Recovering from past trauma
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Sensory overload
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Constantly striving for perfection in an imperfect world – “when am I good enough”
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Symptoms – could we all come up with a list of symptoms, having trouble articulating, something in common
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Sexual vulnerability
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Emotional and physical health
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Medication – this one could be tricky, we can’t go beyond our competence
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Psychiatric illness – another tricky one, we do not have a Psychiatrist
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Communication skills and friendships
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Embracing Stimming
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Social Integration
These topics will be taken to a Management Meeting for further discussion.
Linda spoke about how the Anime Amigos had been interviewed by Agony Autie recently and how this will be available at the end of May.
Linda herself is going to be interviewed by Agony Autie on 5 June.
Linda thanked everyone for attending and announced that the next group will be held on 6 June 2018 at 12.00-2.00pm.
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Carly is missed at the Meeting, having Aspersgers Syndrome I don’t like this Change. It’s not the same without Carly.
A very Good talk with David engaging very well with the Group making for an enjoyable informal Talk which are always the Best Talks.