Sensory Squids

If you’ve been wanting buckyballs but found them too expensive, or want to show support for a company that makes great fidgets for adults, you can now get 45% off at their web site by entering the promo code “suckitgroupon” (presumably this has something to do with groupon not honoring groupons for buckyballs in light of the administrative action). I got a set of buckyballs, a set of buckycubes, and a set of “buckybigs” (8 biiiiig buckyballs) for a little over $50 and free shipping and am now super happy. :). PLEASE DO NOT BUY for children, or if you can’t keep them away from children or pets or adults with pica, or if you have a habit of putting your fidgets in your mouth without thinking.

This isn’t really a political blog, but this is important and topical:

One of the first things I reviewed on this blog were my buckyballs. These small magnets are an AMAZING fidget for us adults who have sensory needs. They are not only extremely useful for keeping my fingers occupied and helping me think, but also they look professional which means that I can use them in the place where I spend nearly every hour of my day: the office.

Although they are dangerous if swallowed and should be kept away from small children, there are some adults for which these things are actually medically helpful. People like me, who have dermatillomania and trichotillomania, need sensory inputs to help us avoid gouging at our skin and pulling hair out of places where we really should have hair. Without that input we are at risk for social and professional problems (due to visible sores or bald patches) and even serious infections. They also help me stay on task at work (I also have attentional difficulties, especially when trying to digest auditory-only information).

As I said in my original post, children and people with pica should not play with buckyballs. But buckyballs need to stay available for those of us who aren’t at risk of swallowing them. While there are other toys available, anyone who’s spent long amounts of time searching for the perfect fidget understands that sensory needs vary from person to person - what is satisfying and useful to one person may not be for another. I have a set of buckyballs already, but at some point I might have to replace or augment them, and it’s very important to me to have that option.

So, if you care, please go to the buckyballs site and sign a petition and/or buy a set to show support. Thanks. 

EDIT: I actually had failed to notice there’s no petition on the site (that I can see). But do feel free to circulate this, buy buckyballs to show support, and/or sign a petition if/when one does appear.

sherlocksflataffect:

josiahd:

sherlocksflataffect:

So I started making my house more autistic friendly today.

This means I need to do these things:

• Reorganize my drawers and closet
• label where things actually are in said drawers and closet
• Put stim toys somewhere accessible & memorable
• Get rid of shit I do not actually need
• Make an…

Do you have a method for remembering to charge your electronics?

Charging electronics is very routinized…I plug everything in right before bed & check like 50 times before falling asleep.

Finding things, there’s the trouble. Or remembering shit that needs doing when it actually needs doing…

I have a power strip that’s devoted to chargers. To avoid using vampire power when it’s not in use, I either unplug the chargers and leave them next to the strip, or just turn off the whole power strip. The strip is right next to my bed, so I will remember to plug things in at nighttime. 

Sherlocksflataffect has a good list of things to do to make apartments more autistic friendly:

sherlocksflataffect:

So I started making my house more autistic friendly today.

This means I need to do these things:

• Reorganize my drawers and closet
• label where things actually are in said drawers and closet
• Put stim toys somewhere accessible & memorable
• Get rid of shit I do not actually need
• Make an interaction board thing
• Make a…grocery list thing deal?
• Find places to put things on the wall
• Make a “Shit that needs doing often” kind of thing
• A Wall Of Appointments
• A thingy for the dishwasher
• Other things TBD

Um. So. That didn’t really happen. I started reorganizing drawers & then had to go get stuff & it took 2h & now I’m like INTERNET FOREVER.

But here’s my “don’t leave the house without these things” sign:

Buckyballs are my favorite desk toy. For about $34.95 (a little pricey, but worth it if you can afford it), you get 216 little magnetic balls which you can squish, pull, wrap around your finger, or make into neat shapes. Their sleek metallic appearance fits in even in really conservative office environments, and they come with a nice little transparent cube carrying case. 

My favorite thing to do with these is to hold two chains of buckyballs near to each other and feel the magnetic force pulling them together. I also like to squish them around; they make a very satisfying clicking noise. I’ve also figured out how to make a sphere, a cube, and even a companion cube-type shape.

Please keep in mind that these are NOT for small children or anyone else who might inadvertently swallow them (such as an adult with a tendency to absent-mindedly put things in their mouth). Swallowed magnets will send you to the ER. 

Pros: shiny, clicky, addictive, appropriate for almost any office environments, and can be used at varying attention levels (from absent-mindedly squishing them to making them into complex shapes).

Cons: Expensive, not safe for small children, and probably not great to keep around electronics (I’m constantly accidentally putting them next to my phone or iPod; hasn’t killed them yet though).

Overall: Five stars. I love these things!

My mother, who’s also a bit of a chewer, used to walk around the house with a toothbrush in her mouth all night, gnawing it into oblivion. Toothbrushes are actually a lot of fun to chew: they’re easy to keep in your mouth while doing other things, and they have an interesting texture. On the other hand, they’re hard and scratchy and bad for your teeth. This little toothbrush-shaped gum massager marketed for infants and toddlers is probably a better option. 

The massager is made of white hard plastic and blue soft plastic. Each surface on the ends has a different texture. There are little bristles that you can see up at the top of the image; on the other side of the bristles there are little vertical wavy ridges. On the bottom end, there are little horizontal zig-zag ridges on one side and some horizontal straight ridges on the other.

Appearance: Unlike my teething bling, it’s not exactly camouflaged, but it also doesn’t obviously look like a children’s object. Appearance is somewhat irrelevant to me since I mostly chew this while hanging around the house, but you could carry it around with you in a travel toothbrush holder. 

Pros: the soft plastic is a nice texture to chew on, and I like the little ridges. Like a toothbrush, you can sort of hold it in your mouth and idly gnaw on it while doing something else. And at $4.49 online it’s pretty cheap if you can order enough other stuff to get free shipping.

Cons: This tasted very bad when I first tried it. It might be because the bristles sort of hold on to soap, or just because there was some sort of residue on it right out of the package (presumably harmless, as this is marketed to babies). I think it’s the soap; if at all possible, you really want to use vodka or some other kind of stongly alcoholic spirit to sanitize it instead (NOT rubbing alchohol that tastes foul). Also, it’s not really meant to be chewed by adult teeth and will probably get a bit mangled with long-term heavy use: I’ve already put a few dings in it after a couple days. 

Overall: Three stars.

I ordered this from Amazon a few days ago and just got it today, so it will make a good introductory post. 

Teething Bling is a line of chewable necklaces aimed at mothers of teething babies. They sell a range of soft plastic pendants designed to look classy while remaining safe to chew on. I got the copper-colored one shown above.

For: Something to chew on instead of grinding your teeth, chewing your lips, biting your fingers, etc. Also could probably used as something smooth to touch if you like things like that; it’s got a bit of a velvety yet smooth texture. 

Pros: While a close look reveals that the pendant is plastic, it’s pretty good at camouflaging into the rest of an outfit. The fact that it’s on a necklace pendant means that you can’t drop it, you don’t have to put it down on something gross (ew!) when you don’t want it in your mouth just now, and (unlike the bracelet-y chew toys I’ve also tried) it’s less likely to come into contact with all of the dirt that your hands usually bump into. This means that you don’t have to be constantly washing it before putting it back in your mouth. And at $18.99 on Amazon, it’s relatively inexpensive as jewelry goes!

Cons: The color I got couldn’t easily pass off as not being made out of plastic, at least on a close look (solid colors might actually be better). And the safety clasp is sort of nice, but if you use it you can’t really shorten or lengthen the cord. It’s also a bit gendered, although I’ve seen men wearing necklaces much like some of the ones on this site. And you have to buy it online, which I find sub-optimal for jewelry purchases.

Overall: 4 stars.