Thursday, April 21, 2016

RJ's Autism Awareness Blog Hop Stop



RJ was nice enough to include me in her month-long autism awareness campaign, and I'm honored to support her. My life hasn't been personally, intimately touched by autism, however, I have many friends who live with it in their families, and I've seen how it can be both a challenge and a source of victories and rewards.

RJ, TA Chase, me and Amber Kell at GRL
I started my family in the early 2000s, when the news about autism was starting to become more frequent in the media. So when my first daughter had reached her second birthday without saying a single word, and liked to do things like line up her diapers in a row (Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie, Elmo, Big Bird, etc), I was concerned enough to talk to her pediatrician about it. Rather than it being autism, however, it was a sign of her later personality. She began speaking about two weeks after she turned two--in full sentences. And the pattern traits have morphed into a very strong organizational sense and love of order.

So I was fortunate in that my worry turned out to be unfounded. However, many parents with mounting suspicions or instincts that something isn't quite right come away with quite different news and it changes the way they must parent for the rest of their lives. And I have the utmost respect for those parents.


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Autism Fact #21: Hypersensitive hearing can make you particularly sensitive to sound - for example, able to hear conversations in the distance.

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As a final thought, as an ally, there are some things you can do to support friends and neighbors in an autism family:
  • Educate yourself about autism
  • Teach your children about autism and foster inclusion and empathy
  • Listen when they just need a friendly ear
  • Take social cues from the parents, or ask ahead of time how best to support their parenting
  • Don't give up on the relationship 
Thank you so much for visiting and much love to RJ.<3 br="">

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I'd like to give out two prizes to commenters. Just leave a comment with your name, email and which prize you are interested in!
  • For US and Canada only, a print pack consisting of: 
  1. RJ Scott's Ellery Mountain Volume 3 (includes The Barman and The SEAL and The Agent and The Model) 
  2. Winner's choice of one of my available print books, personalized.
  • Open worldwide: Grad School Guys series in ebook, choice of Kindle delivery or other format
  1. Remarkable Restraint
  2. Naughty By Night (new release this month!)
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Naughty by Night blurb

Normally, finding the hot neighbor in bed with your boyfriend would be the end—not the beginning—of a wonderful relationship.

Marty can’t catch a break. Unable to confess to his neighbor Kevin that it’s Kevin he’s interested in, he ends up using advice to make a move on Jason instead. He moves too slowly, though, and Kevin and Jason end up dating each other, leaving Marty out in the cold.
Everything changes the morning Jason wakes up to find Marty in bed with him and Kevin. Jason wonders whether he’s made a big mistake in committing to Kevin. Marty’s mortified—he’s wanted Jason from afar for ages, but never had the courage to act on it. And Kevin is plotting something naughty that will give all three men what they’ve wanted all along.

Pre-order at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1WIZgNL
Excerpt and early download at Pride Publishing: https://www.pride-publishing.com/naughty-by-night

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Make sure to leave a comment for your chance to win one of the prize packs! :)

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the blog post supporting RJ's Autism Awareness. Love your Vampires, Mages, Weres, Oh My series.

    Marcine
    dejamew@centurylink.net
    I am interested in the print pack :)

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  2. Angela
    Thank you for participating in this blog hop and for sharing this post with us. Congrats on the (upcoming) release of Naughty By Night and thank you for the giveaway chance. I'm interested in the Grad School Guys series in ebook.
    ahpg(at)ziggo(dot)nl

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  3. Thanks for participating! I'm entering for the print pack (but would happily accept Grad School Guys if someone else wins first)...

    Trix, vitajex(at)aol(Dot)com

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  4. Thank you for sharing your story and the autism fact. We had a similar situation with my son who was very sensitive to loud noises and had similar developmental things where we was late but then moved forward in leaps. He has grown out of a lot of that now, but can still hear a whispered conversation from across the house. :-)

    If I win, I would love the print pack (#1) but #2 would be fantastic as well.

    jen(dot)f(at)mac(dot)com

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  5. Thanks for the 3 things, I agree with them all. And it's so good to see so many caring people who support others.
    serena91291@gmail.com

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  6. Thank you thank you for sharing this. My son Tombo is also mildly autistic but he is also considered mentally delayed. I enjoy reading anything RJ posts about autism and her son Matt. If I win I would love the print pack.
    looney589@msn.com

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  7. Thank you for your interesting and instructive post...The more we know about autism, the more we will able to help integrate...
    susanaperez(at)gmail(dot)com
    I would go for the ebook, as I'm from Europe.

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  8. Thank you for joining in in the hop and helping to spread awareness about autism! Either prizes would be great, and I'm really tempted by the Grad School Guys series too.
    humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com

    ReplyDelete

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