Sorry to get back so late to this; things have been crazy around here! Yes, you can post pictures here. At the top of the page, there is a link to the gallery. It's not very active right now, so have fun!

I enjoyed looking at your portfolio online. Man, wish I could do that! lol I'll stick to my point and shoot, though. I'ms with my scrapbooking. And, just so you know, digital scrapbooking is far less expensive than traditional. You probably already have photoshop for your photography, but if you don't, I use GIMP, which is open source and free. Besides that, I also use many free resources offered by different artists online. It takes some research, but once you know who the good goodie givers are, you can do digital scrapbooking practically for free.

I understand your daughter's reactions. Frankly, I often feel that way after a strong storm, although my coping looks a little different. When you get in an "emergency" situation like that, let her guide what she needs most. Beck is right; good, strong, full body hugs (if she wants them) can be very calming. In other times, though, you can help her before she faces those problems with daily doses of deep pressure, any kind of exercise that gives good pressure to the joints (trampoline, rolling on an exercise ball, etc), or any OT help. The Wilbarger protocol, for example, is something an OT can teach that is helpful to many people.

As for other people, I don't really have any good advice for that. Of course you're going to want to protect your daughter from people who are thoughtless, staring, or making rude comments. Frankly, they're not going to go away. If, rather, you teach her to take these in stride, take them as the idiotic comments they are, and help give her a sense of humor about them, it'll help her in the long run. The range of "normal" is a lot broader than most people want to credit. Most of those people who are staring rudely have fought such impulses in themselves and are showing the internal editor that tells them not to "act out in public." If you have the chance to educate them, great. If not, it's their loss. Your daughter is a wonderful, creative, unique individual who gets overloaded more easily than most. They're missing out on getting to know her, if their attitude gets in the way.

Are there any other situations where your daughter has a lot of trouble?