Our History
Aspie Friendly, the way we currently exist, officially began in January 2008, although our roots stretch back to 2000.
Lorin Neikirk, Aspie Friendly's founder, had her son (then four) evaluated for behavioral issues, and learned that he has "Pervasive Development Disorder", a generalized autism spectrum disorder, with hyperlexia. The doctors who diagnosed her son said that the child would probably eventually need to be institutionalized, and the best treatment for now would probably be an antipsychotic medication to control the episodes of rage. Somehow this didn't seem like the best solution, even though Lorin didn't know what other options were available.
After the diagnosis, Lorin decided to change the way she interacted with her son; she sat back and observed his behavior instead of trying to correct it. She quickly learned that she could intuitively understand his logic and reasoning. This prompted her to shift her responses in such a way that she saw an immediate improvement in her son's Armed with one-on-one personal coaching from her uncle, Dr. Gary Brown, a psychologist who had been helping kids with autism for decades, Lorin worked with her son using the ABA and modified Lovass techniques she learned. Between Lorin's unique understanding of her son's reasoning, thinking, and needs, and Dr. Brown's personal guidance, in less than a year, Lorin's son made a dramatic improvement in his ability to assimilate to his environment.
One of the techniques Lorin used was the "social story", which is often used with kids who have autism. Social stories were conceived of by Carol Gray, and are frequently considered to be one of the more effective tools for teaching children new routines or skills. Lorin wrote social stories for her sone, which had some fundamental differences from the traditional social story. Her stories quickly gained attention from the general education teachers at her son's elementary school, and soon Lorin was asked to write stories which were appropriate for general classroom use, such as My Little Learning Book About Following Directions. The books' popularity quickly spread, and soon Lorin was writing custom stories for children with autism, to address issues such as removing clothing in public, personal hygene, and more.
In the years that followed, Lorin was asked to speak to teachers, and other events, as well as helping parents on a one-on-one basis. Eventually some Little Learning Books were available in print, as were tools to help parents guide their autistic children through challenging tasks such as homework and writing assignments. All along, Lorin had trouble understanding why other parent's couldn't see the solutions that she could. What seemed like elusive problems to parents of autistic children were embarrassingly simple problems to solve for Lorin, for some reason.
After a divorce in 2005, and the subsequent failing attempts to enter the workforce in entry-level positions, Lorin sought answers about her own struggles, and learned that she has Asperger's, which is on the autism spectrum. It was explained that her challenges in maintaining traditional employment were directly related to traits which manifested from having Asperger's. This explicated Lorin's unique ability to understand her son's logic and reasoning, and that of other children with autism. As Lorin connected with other adults with autism, she also learned that her ability to articulate certain things about having autism was also a unique trait; one which could be of great help to people who don't have autism, but want to understand things about autism that only people with autism could possibly understand.
Today, Lorin strives to help people understand autistic logic through communication and understanding. That is what being Aspie Friendly is all about!
Lorin Neikirk, Aspie Friendly's founder, had her son (then four) evaluated for behavioral issues, and learned that he has "Pervasive Development Disorder", a generalized autism spectrum disorder, with hyperlexia. The doctors who diagnosed her son said that the child would probably eventually need to be institutionalized, and the best treatment for now would probably be an antipsychotic medication to control the episodes of rage. Somehow this didn't seem like the best solution, even though Lorin didn't know what other options were available.
After the diagnosis, Lorin decided to change the way she interacted with her son; she sat back and observed his behavior instead of trying to correct it. She quickly learned that she could intuitively understand his logic and reasoning. This prompted her to shift her responses in such a way that she saw an immediate improvement in her son's Armed with one-on-one personal coaching from her uncle, Dr. Gary Brown, a psychologist who had been helping kids with autism for decades, Lorin worked with her son using the ABA and modified Lovass techniques she learned. Between Lorin's unique understanding of her son's reasoning, thinking, and needs, and Dr. Brown's personal guidance, in less than a year, Lorin's son made a dramatic improvement in his ability to assimilate to his environment.
One of the techniques Lorin used was the "social story", which is often used with kids who have autism. Social stories were conceived of by Carol Gray, and are frequently considered to be one of the more effective tools for teaching children new routines or skills. Lorin wrote social stories for her sone, which had some fundamental differences from the traditional social story. Her stories quickly gained attention from the general education teachers at her son's elementary school, and soon Lorin was asked to write stories which were appropriate for general classroom use, such as My Little Learning Book About Following Directions. The books' popularity quickly spread, and soon Lorin was writing custom stories for children with autism, to address issues such as removing clothing in public, personal hygene, and more.
In the years that followed, Lorin was asked to speak to teachers, and other events, as well as helping parents on a one-on-one basis. Eventually some Little Learning Books were available in print, as were tools to help parents guide their autistic children through challenging tasks such as homework and writing assignments. All along, Lorin had trouble understanding why other parent's couldn't see the solutions that she could. What seemed like elusive problems to parents of autistic children were embarrassingly simple problems to solve for Lorin, for some reason.
After a divorce in 2005, and the subsequent failing attempts to enter the workforce in entry-level positions, Lorin sought answers about her own struggles, and learned that she has Asperger's, which is on the autism spectrum. It was explained that her challenges in maintaining traditional employment were directly related to traits which manifested from having Asperger's. This explicated Lorin's unique ability to understand her son's logic and reasoning, and that of other children with autism. As Lorin connected with other adults with autism, she also learned that her ability to articulate certain things about having autism was also a unique trait; one which could be of great help to people who don't have autism, but want to understand things about autism that only people with autism could possibly understand.
Today, Lorin strives to help people understand autistic logic through communication and understanding. That is what being Aspie Friendly is all about!
