Your basket is currently empty!
Writing
Autistic Burnout – Supporting Young People At Home & School
Autistic burnout in young people is real—and recovery starts with understanding. This post offers neuroaffirming ways to spot the signs,…
Monotropic Interests and Looping Thoughts
The theory of monotropism was developed by Murray, Lawson and Lesser in their article, Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria…
Map of Monotropic Experiences
Monotropism seeks to explain Autism in terms of attention distribution and interests. OSF Preprints | Development and Validation of a…
·
Autistic Burnout – Supporting Young People At Home & School
Being autistic is not an illness or a disorder in itself, but being autistic can have an impact on a…
·
The Double Empathy Problem is DEEP
“The growing cracks in the thin veneer of our “civilised” economic and social operating model are impossible to ignore”, Jorn…
·
Top 5 Neurodivergent-Informed Strategies
Top 5 Neurodivergent-Informed Strategies By Helen Edgar, Autistic Realms, June 2024. 1. Be Kind Take time to listen and be…
Autistic Community: Connections and Becoming
Everyone seeks connection in some way or another. Connections may look different for autistic people. In line with the motto…
·
Monotropism, Autism & OCD
This blog has been inspired by Dr Jeremy Shuman’s (PsyD) presentation, ‘Neurodiversity-Affirming OCD Care‘ (August 2023), available here. Exploring similarities…
Monotropism Questionnaire & Inner Autistic/ADHD Experiences
Over the past few weeks, there has been a sudden surge of interest in the Monotropism Questionnaire (MQ), pre-print released…
·
Penguin Pebbling – An Autistic Love Language
What is Penguin Pebbling? I think it was Amythest Schaber that first came up with the concept as…
·
Being With People with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities Through Attunement and Shared Time
There’s something incredibly powerful in the simple idea of being with someone. Not doing to or even doing with or…
The Power of Monotropic Flow: Reclaiming Ourselves Through Creative Practice
“Art opens up space for healing and a way of reclaiming your own narrative”. Letting go of how we should…
·
Empowering Advocacy: Neuro-Affirming Support for Your Autistic Young Person at School
By Helen Edgar (Autistic Realms), with David Gray-Hammond & Tanya Adkin Navigating the education system as the parent or carer…
Toileting: A Neuroaffirming Approach to Support your Autistic Child
Toileting is not a race. For many Autistic children, the journey may look different. Respecting a child’s pace, sensory needs,…
Neurodiversity Affirming Reading Recommendations
Looking for neurodiversity-affirming reads? I’ve have a growing collection of books listed by autistic authors, advocates, and researchers. Perfect for…
Monotropism, Spiral Time, and the Rhizome of Memories
Memory may not be linear for neurodivergent people. It may feel like a spiral of felt sensations. Being monotropic shapes…
Sintering: Neurodivergent Community Building
When snow first falls, its flakes are delicate and vulnerable, but over time, a quiet transformation begins. Sintering is the…
Reclaiming Rest: Autistic Burnout, Monotropism, and Resistance
Rest can become a radical act in a world that often equates our worth with productivity, especially for Autistic or…
NEW Map of Monotropic Experiences: FREE Open Source Training Resources
Map of Monotropic Experiences: FREE Open Source Training ResourcesThe Map of Monotropic Experiences:Reframing Autism Through A Neurodiversity-Affirming Lens Training for…
·
Reclaiming Rest: Autistic Burnout, Monotropism, and Resistance
Rest can become a radical act in a world that often equates our worth with productivity, especially for Autistic or…
Map of Monotropic Experiences: Open Source Training Resources
The Map of Monotropic Experiences: Reframing Autism Through A Neurodiversity-Affirming Lens Training for Professionals, Families and Community Groups to Support…
Neuroqueering Monotropic Time: A short summary
Autistic/ADHD people are more likely to be monotropic and resonate with the theory of monotropism. Dinah Murray, Wenn Lawson, and…
Neuroqueering Time: Bergson, Deleuze, and Monotropism (an exploration)
Time as a double temporality problem, exploring interest gravity for monotropic people and flow as a temporal home…..
·
Monotropic Time – A Short Blog
Monotropic Time: A Different Rhythm If you are Autistic, ADHD, or AuDHD, time may not feel like a straight line,…
Autistic Young People: Skills Regression, Burnout or a shift in Monotropic Attentional Resources?
Autistic individuals may not lose skills but instead redirect their monotropic attention toward new interests or areas of development.
·
Autistic Realms News!
Autistic RealmsHelen Edgar Autistic Advocate, Author & ConsultantNeurodiversity-Affirming Support Supporting Autistic People Thrive And Grow Welcome to Autistic Realms Newsletter!…
·
Monotropic Time & Neuroqueering Temporalities
Dwelling in Resonance: Monotropism, Monotropic Time, Spirals & Neuroqueer Temporalities “Lodged in all is a set metronome” – (W. H.…
Monotropic Time
Each person’s experience of time is likely to be influenced by culture, age, disability and neurodivergence. For Autistic/ADHD/AuDHD people, time…
Autistic Realms Weekly Round-Up!
Autistic Realms News Letter: Neuro-Affirming resources and blogs, up-coming webinars, sharing new research and community events.
·
Testimonials for Autistic Realms
Testimonials gathered from National Neurodiversity Awards nomination feedback 2024 and 2025. Feel free to vote for me and others here:…
·
Welcome Newsletter
Autistic RealmsHelen Edgar – Autistic Advocate, Author & ConsultantNeurodiversity-Affirming Support To Help Autistic People Thrive And Grow Welcome to Autistic…
·
Neuro-Affirming Research in Practice: Supporting Autistic Students, Embracing Monotropism In The Classroom And Beyond
Written by Tanya Adkin and Helen Edgar, based on the presentation we delivered to the National Autistic Society Professionals’ Conference…
Monotropism and Autistic Play
All play is ok! There is no right way to play! All play is ok! There is no right way…
Could it be PANS/PANDAS… Be Curious!
This collection of text and images was created collaboratively by neurodivergent educators, working together to shine a light on this…
·
Challenges for Autistic & Neurodivergent Families Navigating the SEND System: We Need to Understand the Double Empathy Problem & Embrace Monotropism
(Blog based on a presentation I delivered to London Met University 14th March 2025, updated April 24th 2025 following the…
·
Weird Pride and Being Weird
Weird Pride Day: Why Be Normal When You Can Be You? Every day can be a Weird Pride day if…
What does ‘neuro-affirming’ mean for Autistic young people?
This blog was written by myself, Helen Edgar of @autisticrealms for GROVE. I am delighted to work with Grove Neurodivergent Mentoring and…
Autistic Young People & Friendships
This blog was written by myself, Helen Edgar of @autisticrealms for GROVE. I am delighted to work with Grove Neurodivergent Mentoring and…
Tides of burnout and being monotropic
“Once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through. But one thing is certain. When you…
·
Call for Submissions: Share your experiences of being monotropic.
Open Invite: Share your experiences of being monotropic. Share poems, art, blogs, essays, videos, podcasts, music, etc., that reflect your…
·
Obstacles in the way of Neuro-Affirming Practice in Educational Settings & Ways Forward
Implementing neurodiversity-affirming practices in education, healthcare, and other systems is often hindered by pervasive narratives and biases. Recognizing and addressing…
Behaviourism/PBS/ABA/PECs: There are alternative ways
‘The path isn’t a straight line; it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and…
Autism & The Map of Neuronormative Domination: Stuck States vs Flow States
In collaboration with Ryan Boren, Chelsea Adams and Norah Hobbs from Stimpunks I have created: Autism & The Map of…
·
The Map of Monotropic Experiences: A Summary
The Map of Monotropic Experiences, created by Helen Edgar of Autistic Realms in collaboration with the Stimpunks Foundation, visually represents…
·
Words: Inspired By The Experience Of Being Monotropic
Monotropism is a neurodiversity-affirming theory of autism (Murray et al., 2005). Autistic /ADHD/ AuDHD people are more likely to be…
·
Book Review: I didn’t see you there. By Charlotte Gale
I didn’t see you there by Charlotte Gale is a powerful journey of poetic memoirs of one family’s path through…
·
Neuronormative Domination, Monotropism & The Map of Monotropic Experiences
In collaboration with Stimpunks, I created a Map of Monotropic Experiences. This is a revised edition of the original map…
·
Radical Resilience
Image of pink flower growing between gaps in pavement. Text:Wild flowers offer hope. Be radically resilient. Find possibilities in-between hard…
Gestalt Language Processing, Monotropism & Young People
Monotropic (Autistic/ ADHD) people have fewer tunnels of interest to process and use their energy than polytropic people (non-Autistic/ADHD). Polytropic…
Caverns, Pleats and Folds
Cartographers are people who create maps, and they transform physical geography into an accessible format so people can navigate in…
Monotropism and Collective Flow
In Milan Kundera’s novel, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ (1981), he described the heaviness of life, the restrictive oppression and…
·
Exploring ‘Being With’
I experience and interpret ‘Being With’ as a process of be-coming together. Deleuze’s concept of the line of flight allows…
The Autistic Dream Realms Project
Autistic Dream Realms The Autistic Dream Realms Project, created with Katie from Autistic and Living the Dream is a project in…
·
An Autistic Experience of Social Media
I am writing this one month into my journey of setting up Autistic Realms; I aim to support and develop…
·
Neurodivergent Base-Camp
Explaining what it is like to be autistic to non-autistic people can be difficult. To quote Dawn Prince-Hughes (Cultural Autism…
Autistic Burnout, Bodymind and Soul
Kieran Rose (2018) describes autistic burnout as a ‘crash where you keep on crashing’. This resonates deeply. I have experienced…
·
Quantum Neuro-Holographic Thoughts from a Liminal Space
“Quantumness tends to prosper in very cold systems that are carefully isolated rather than part of a tepid soup awash…
·
Spaces For Multi-Sensory Learners and those with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities
Helen Edgar (Autistic Realms) and Ryan Boren (Stimpunks) have been exploring radically inclusive learning environments. Cavendish learning spaces are based…
Neurodivergent Co-Regulation
Being neurodivergent can be really hard work in a world that is mostly still lacking in an understanding of the…
·
Neuro-Holographic Thoughts
I believe that the DEEP (Double Empathy Extreme Problem) is at the heart of all the systemic ableist issues we…
Neuroqueering in the Liminal Spaces
Neuroqueering in Liminal Spaces “By silencing our bodyminds, they (neurotypical society) have halted the growth of a chaotic self. We are…
Monotropism, Holotropism & Floatation Experiences
I am autistic and monotropic, and I am interested in exploring Helen Mirra’s theory of holotropism (2023) and how this…
·
Neuroqueer Collaborative Work Flow Spaces
A behind-the-scenes look into the collaborative workflow between Helen Edgar (Autistic Realms) and Ryan Boren (Stimpunks) as we write about…
An unlearing and relearning journey.
Hello! I have never done an introduction post for Autistic Realms, so after 18 months and some one kindly nominating…
Neuroqueer Learning Spaces — Webinar — a summary and reflection 6th May 2024
Neuroqueer Learning Spaces Webinar — A summary and reflection Neuroqueer Learning Spaces is a community project led by Ryan Boren (Stimpunks) and…
Interpreting your Monotropism Questionnaire Results
The theory of Monotropism was developed by Murray et al. (2005) in their article, Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for…
·
Celebrations: Neurodivergent-friendly ideas to help make celebrations a success for the whole family
(A guest blog, originally written for and published by ThePDASpace, May 2023) Family life can be busy and chaotic, and…
·
Neurodiversity Affirming Glossary of Key Words – for families and professionals
(Glossary written & and originally published for THE PDA SPACE SUMMIT 2023 ) A full version of The Neurdodiversity…
Monotropism and The Monotropism Questionnaire
This article was originally written for and published by Neurodiverse Connection (Aug 2023) What is monotropism? The theory of monotropism…
·
Embracing Autistic Children’s Monotropic Flow States
Article originally written and published for Neurodiverse Connection (Sept 2023) Autistic and ADHD people are more likely to be monotropic…
Autistic Burnout: Social Media Project November 2023
Autistic burnout is a term often used within the autistic community to describe an intense exhaustion that many autistic people…
·
Building a Family Sensory Toolkit
Tigger Pritchard delivered a great workshop with The PDA Space where they discussed ‘The Sensory Impact of School Holidays’,…
·
Transitions – Supporting young people throughout the day
Recognising the demands of transitions and finding ways to reduce the pressure for the young people you support. Original article…
·
Monotropism and Experiences of being Monotropic
The theory of Monotropism was developed by Dr Dinah Murray, Wenn Lawson and Mike Lesser (2005) in their article, Attention,…
·
Middle Entrance
I am starting my new blog in the middle. I am in the middle of what is known as ‘midlife’…
Low Demand Parenting (for the whole family)
There are a growing number of courses and books discussing the benefits of low-demand parenting strategies. This approach has been…
·
Autism & OCD – What Could Help
According to OCD-UK charity, there are,’ around three-quarters of a million people thought to be living with severe, life-impacting and debilitating…
Monotropism = Happy Flow State
A guest blog for PDA Space – the original more concise version of this article is here: Monotropism = Happy…
Autism is fluid
Autism is not a disorder and does not need fixing or any ‘interventions’. Autism comes under the umbrella of neurodivergence,…
Neurodivergent Friendly Classrooms
(Article published as Guest Blog for Twinkl Feb 2023)n Embrace Difference The numbers of pupils needing EHCPs and support…
·
Supporting neurodivergent students who are struggling to attend school
Data shows that the number of pupils with identified SEND needs are rising. There is an increase in the number…
Supporting pupils through Autistic Burnout (Teacher Guide)
Autistic Burnout: A Family Guide is available here: Shop | Autisticrealms Embracing Monotropism and Supporting Young People To Help…
Book Review: The New Normal-Autistic musings on the threat of a broken society by David Gray-Hammond
David Gray-Hammond’s new book The New Normal – Autistic musings on the threat of a broken society (2022)…
·
Book Review -Square Pegs, Inclusivity, Compassion & Fitting in (A guide for Schools)
Square Pegs: Inclusivity, compassion and fitting in – a guide for schools. Fran Morgan with Elllie Costello, edited by Ian…
·
Supporting autistic students experiencing OCD in a school setting
The National Autistic Society School report 2021 confirmed, ‘There are over 160,000 autistic pupils in schools across England. Over…
Total Communication
Total communication is not a new concept it evolved from the field of education for the deaf in the…
Education Crisis – Neurodiversity Affirming Teacher Training Needed
Language Identity First Language: In line with preferences from the Autistic community I will be using Identity First Language…
Supporting Children through Autistic Burnout (Parent/Carer Guide)
(This is written from lived experience as a parent and teacher, supported by the amazing research of professionals and…
·
Language matters, relationships are essential
It can be difficult and confusing to understand the language surrounding neurodiversity. It can be seen to be creating…
Parent ideas for autistic children struggling with school attendance
If your child is autistic, then they are more likely to have additional anxiety, social, communication and sensory processing…
·
‘Profound autism’ does not exist – rather there are autistic individuals with PMLD / PIMD
‘Profound Autism?’ Language matters, but it is complicated and there are constant changes of vocabulary and what is deemed as…
‘Profound’ in relation to those with PMLD / PIMD
PIMD / PMLD The International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Profound Intellectual and Multiple…
Ideas for Autistic Children who are Struggling at School
It can be difficult for autistic children to access an appropriate education and challenging for their parents…
·
