There seems to be a lot of wrong notions when it some to describing autistic individuals or kids. Some people who do not see beyond a person with autism may sometimes deem them "shy," but in reality there are individuals and children with autism that are also sociable.
This is another case posted on The Mighty by contributor writer, Jessica Offer. Jessica has two girls and both are on the spectrum. Their names Sno and Wilding, but one of them is rather shy and the other one is outgoing.
To explain a little bit about the difference between the two, Jessica describes her kids this way: "Friendships are a struggle for Sno, she doesn't want to be touched and she once came home after school one time complaining to her mother why he classmate would want to hold her hand. When she asked Sno why she didn't want to, she told her mother, "Well because I don't know her. And if I don't know her well, I don't want her touching me."
As for Wilding she describes her this way; Wilding was thought as not to be autistic because she was "too social" to have autism. She loves being around people to the point that she even runs towards them in a library and greets them and asks to be read stories. She is very affectionate and loves cuddles. She can easily make friends. People love her and they cherish her embracing character.
The explanation regarding the two characteristics is that being an introvert or extrovert has nothing to do with being autistic. Every person with autism is different from each other. Nevertheless it is important that children with autism or not should be able to learn about life skills and appropriate behavior around people.
Emotions, facial expressions are some of the things individuals with autism are struggling with and have to learn as well. With this, Jessica Offer thanks the story of "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood," because it not only teaches life skills like how to eat or get dressed but also, promotes learning about other people's feelings and emotions. It helps a lot and becomes therapeutic.
Remember every autism is different. There's no need to stereotype.
