2016 Autism Blog Hop
Throughout this month’s Blog Hop, participating authors are posting one ‘autism fact’ per post with story excerpts or articles relating to autism or this year’s theme.
This years theme is – The Five Senses. Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch, Smell
For my post, I thought I’d do a little of everything. 🙂
Yesterday, book 4 in The Men of Halfway House series released, titled A Mended Man. This story features Aidan & Jessie and spans roughly over a year’s time covering a series of events revolving around both characters healing and confronting their demons.
Aidan & Senses
Aidan suffers from PTSD. As a result of this, he’s hyperaware of the tiniest of details and sensitive to various sensory inputs that may trigger a memory or flashback. Music comforts and soothes him, and helps him retain his connection to reality. Sight, smell, and touch also play a role in his flashbacks. Sometimes, a flashback hits him with striking vividness and detail, including the various smells in the air and the sensitivity of each tiny touch of something against his skin
A Mended Man and Autism
In this story, Aidan is part of a task force that handles several cases. One of the cases reaches a turning point through the help of a person who reached out to the team—a shop owner whose son was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and takes comfort in the repetitive behavior of viewing, cataloging, and collecting surveillance videos.
Repetitive behaviors like this and routines help manage anxiety and, in some cases, sensory issues. The following two references provide far more information on this subject than I could possibly include in a post of this kind.
Ref:
http://www.autism.org.uk/about/behaviour/obsessions-repetitive-routines.aspx
http://www.autism.org.uk/about/behaviour/sensory-world.aspx
And now, the short excerpt from A Mended Man between Aidan and a fellow task force member where the above mentioned scene occurs.
“Seems I poked around enough to get some attention. I got a call from a man who owns a small grocery store. He actually kept surveillance footage from prior years. Literally, the guy has years’ worth of footage from different angles, transferred from VHS onto DVD stored in a home library.”
Aidan crossed his arms and frowned. “Why would he keep a library of old surveillance footage?”
“It’s nothing nefarious. His son was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome years ago. One day he noticed his son watching the surveillance monitor in the backroom of the shop, replaying the footage at different speeds…over and over. It seemed to calm him. Every day, he’d take another tape home and his son would catalogue them in a notebook. He’d label and tag them by date, camera angle, he’d even log a count of how many people passed that camera angle for that specific day. He managed to build up a full library of videos over the years.”
Manny crossed his arms and quieted, lost in thought for a moment before he resumed speaking. He walked over to the small side table and gently placed his hand on top of a stack of aged notebooks, seemingly careful with the worn surface as if they were sacred. “His son let us borrow a few of his notes as long as we promised to return them intact, by a particular date and time. And in order,” he finished with a hint of a soft smile.
GIVEAWAY (Ends April 29th at midnight Eastern US time)
I will select two winners from comments on this post.
Prize: Winner’s choice of one ebook from The Men of Halfway House series gifted via Amazon.
NOTE: If you are selected and you’ve already read the series, I will gladly gift a book to a friend of your choice.
ANSWER ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS IN YOU COMMENT TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:
– If you had a chance to do something over/again, what would you do with that second chance?
– If you were the owner of Halfway House and offered guidance to the housemates…
What piece of advice would you offer to your new residents who had trouble adjusting to their newfound freedom?
– What is it you find most appealing about The Men of Halfway House series?
– Which character of series do you like best and why?
– In A Mended Man, Jessie is incredibly optimistic and occasionally says something that would appear on an “inspirational poster.” What saying/phrase would you have on an inspirational poster to inspire others?
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Thank you for stopping by!
I’m so excited for this book!!! The most appealing part for me is the level of comfort they finally get to by the end, like they get it. They figure out being honest, being real and asking for help when they need it. A lesson everyone needs to remember. And to learn one mistake doesn’t define you if you don’t let it! Congratulations on your release!!!!
Answer 1: Never again take anything for granted. Take better care of myself and those around me, because there are only so many second chances you can have.
Answer 2: Take it one day at a time. You just left the big cage, it’s gonna take a while to get back on your feet, let alone adjust to life.
Answer 3: The strength that every character finds in their story. Matt found the courage to face the trauma of his past (his record, his mother.), Julian the willingness to look at his wounds (sometimes being strong is when to know to let go); Hunter found the reason to “give a shit,” not to mention a home, namely Cameron XD; Cameron the resolve from a decade of suffering; Ty a reason to go on and re-become the person he once was, and Cole to finally believe in himself and the place to belong in.
Answer 4: There are so many characters that are adorable, and some are cruel enough to feel real. It’s kind of hard to choose a favorite. But if I have to, then I suppose my favorite character would be *COLE RENZO*. He’s very funny (a real comedian), talented, his head always on a million adventures. The sense of loss is in all of us, but I can relate to him in that particular way. I always feel out of sync with my family and peers, never quite fitting in. But like Rio, I’m jealous of his way with people.
Answer 5: “Love and hope will never abandon you, even when you want them to.”
My favourite character in this series is Julian, I do love his attitude. As for the second chance, I don’t think I would change many things in my life, maybe spend more time with some people I loved and who are not here any more. I’m really horrible at givind advice or guidance, so I would never be a good owner of a house like the Halfway House… Let alone find a motto to inspire!!!;)
My guidance would be to forgive yourself, realize you will make mistakes along the way and that is OK. The important thing is to learn from them and keep trying to be the person you want to be.
Thanks for participating in this great blog tour and for the wonderful post!
Hands down, Cole Renzo <3…..not only is he my favorite in this series so far, but he's one of my top 3 of all time!!! His heart was so golden that you needed shades. He is a man who knows he is different and doesn't hide it yet, he respects his mother and his family, so he tries to be good. I loved how easy he got along with others and his humor. His sexy dancing abilities…..oh oh my….. He is always there helping others without expecting anything in return. And besides…calling his love My-Ty….was so endearing.
I really like Cole, Cameron and Hunter. but it’s hard not to pick everyone since they all have their own appeal =D
Thank you for taking part in the hop!
Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to post a comment! I’ll be contacting the winners today. 🙂
If I had to do something over, I’d sit with the cute guy who flirted with me at a movie screening in college. (My friends were saving me a seat, and I felt guilty leaving them. I thought I’d run into him again, but I never did!)