I started this blog about a week ago. Just now, I tried searching for the name of this blog, and there were several things that came up, but the most prominent is a book that has the same name. Can You See Me? And the theme is similar – it is about an eleven year old girl with autism starting sixth grade. It sounds like it is worth checking out! The book is by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott. I have not read it yet. I don’t want to step on toes here. Of course our stories are going to be different, but I am also sure that we will probably have some things in common.
What do you think? My biggest hangup in starting the blog was that I went to the WordPress site, started to register, and had to come up with a name for my blog. It took me several months to think of a name that I could relate to. I know that books exist with the same or similar names. People may have the same names. I thought that my actual name was unique enough that I would not run into name doubles, but I have name doubles – some with different spellings. Do I need to find a different name? Do you have suggestions? How difficult would it be to change the name at this point, once I have started a blog and registered the domain?
Falling Through the Cracks - Can You See Me? 
For me, the blog name is not super important, but once you’ve registered, it’s best to stick to it. No matter what you choose, I’m wishing you the best on this journey!
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Thank you! I appreciate the feedback.
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I finished reading Libby Scott’s book, and I recommend it! Her story is very different from mine. There are maybe some themes in common, and I think that we would relate to each other. Her story is from the point of view of a child, who has not yet made sense of the world, and is learning important life lessons.
One thing that we share in common is the importance of listening to understand. Despite the main character’s youth and her lack of insight at times, she does manage to get that message across – how important communication is, and how much we all need to be heard, even if we are not very good at talking in the way that most people are used to.
Some autistic children don’t talk until they are older. Some start talking when they are babies, and then stop. Most of us do have difficulty with oral communication in one way or another. My hypothesis about this is that it feels like there is something that demands a certain level of competence, and maybe it is anxiety that stops us. Have you noticed that autistic children may not talk at all until they are capable of talking just like miniature adults? There are some who never do speak out loud and are thought to be intellectually delayed and it may be assumed that they don’t understand anything, and then they start writing and maybe even write a book, and they remember everything, but felt like they just couldn’t get their lips to move or the speech to come out, even though they wanted to. I have noticed that I have difficulty with my second and third languages in that even though I understand and know what I want to say, I don’t have enough of a feel for the language to be able to say it the way that I want to, and so I don’t. If I make an embarrassing mistake in another language, I might give up trying to speak that language at all for a long time – months or years, as I continue to listen and study it and try to get it right.
And I think that it can be a strength, because when we don’t communicate easily the same way that most people do, we do learn to listen to what is not being said. And to understand non-verbal communication, even non-human forms of communication. And to have empathy for others who are different from us, although that is not something that most people think that autistic people have.
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