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How to help your Autistic child during a meltdown.

If possible take your child to a quiet and private place.

Give your child space to let the meltdown run its course but still supervise them to ensure their safety.

Try to be as quiet as possible and try to make your environment as quiet as possible.

If possible put your child's favourite show on TV for them. Once when I was having a meltdown my brother put Bluey on TV and it helped me to calm down.

If possible give your child an object that is comforting to them.

When speaking to your child try to speak in a quiet and calm voice.

Don't ask your child to do anything during the meltdown and after the meltdown for at least am hour. This would put more stress on the child and make things worse.

Don't film your child during the meltdown and put it on the internet. Your child deserves privacy. Filming to show a medical professional is okay.

Try not to get angry at your child and don't punish your child for having a meltdown.

If you get overwhelmed and it is possible you can get another adult who knows your child well and understands Autism to supervise your child while you have a break.

If your child is very noisy don't be afraid to wear earplugs or noise cancelling head phones.

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Autism and Parties

Neurodivergent_lou

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Saw a post and it really got me thinking.

The post was talking about why don’t lower support needs, higher masking individuals even believe that higher support needs, low masking, “severely autistic” people, exist. And that got me really thinking. Because, I do think they know we exist. I just don’t think they want too.

I don’t think they want to know we exist. They know we exist, but keep us on the back burner. They live in ignorance bliss of us. I have what some people would think of as severe autism. Im nonverbal (although nonverbal later in life. But outside people don’t care about that. They see nonverbal as nonverbal), I’m intellectually disabled, need help in everyday life, etc. but I’m in the middle. I’m moderate support needs. To me, I’m not severely autistic. But to society, I am considered and seen as severely autistic because society doesn’t have the understanding of moderate autism yet. They don’t understand it. And I’ve seen more times than I can count that severe autism doesn’t exist. Not because they don’t believe in severe autism the label itself because it’s “harmful” but because they don’t believe that it’s just caused by autism. They often believe that’s it’s caused by comorbidities. Like ID, or cerebral palsy, or apraxia/dyspraxia, or mobility issues, or genetic conditions, and so on. Although none of this is bad.

They believe that autism itself can’t create severe autism. Which…isn’t true. Before, it was believed that severe autism was the only type of autism. That it was the only type that existed and if you weren’t severely autistic then you weren’t autistic. Then more research happened, then social media happened, and now..white, lower support needs, high masking, late diagnosed individuals are the majority of what’s being centered. And, that isn’t bad. We need awareness of all autism. But when one type of autism gets centered, it becomes a problem. It becomes the new norm. It becomes what everyone expects out of autism now. Which, isn’t true. Autism all of all types and traits exists. Autism of all support needs exists.

When people say severe autism doesn’t exist, they’re ignoring and saying that a BIG percentage of autistic people don’t exist. They’re saying that we aren’t real. That we aren’t on the internet, or in the communities they live in, or in their schools, or whatever. We’re everywhere. Severe autism is still a thing. It isn’t a misdiagnosis. It isn’t from comorbities, although if someone’s autism is more severe from comorbidities then that isn’t bad.

I think a lot of people need to be more aware of severe autism. And not just severe autism like me or my mutuals, or the people you see here on tumblr. But the ones with even MORE severe autism. The ones who live in group homes, residentials, institutions, and so on. The ones who aren’t on the internet. The ones who aren’t here blogging about their lives. We need to be aware of them too. We need to believe they exist, and believe that their autism is real.

Don’t erase severe or profound autism.

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Autism has long been synonymous with "struggle". If you don't struggle, if you're successful or you're just happy with life people are less likely to recognize you as autistic, except for other autistic people.

I swear, we have an autism radar. Autie-radar? Autie-dar?

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Alexitthymia

The Autistic Teacher

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Shout-out to the autistics who crave hugs. Shout-out to the autistics whose love language is touch.

And shout-out to the autistics who were denied a timely diagnosis because a misinformed professional thought you were "too affectionate" to be autistic.

You aren't any less autistic because of how you show affection. And you aren't nearly as rare as pop culture and outdated research would imply.

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Autism Awareness: Trans Edition

neurodivergent_insights

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Autism Acceptance Month Fact #16

It's misleading at best to say that the number of autistic people is growing, as the diagnosis is fairly new and thus we don't have enough data to claim this.

For example, when being left-handed stopped being stigmatized, the number of lefties "shot up" because left-handed people no longer had to pretend to be right-handed. There weren't more left-handed people being born, they had always been around.

Similarly, it's extremely possible that the numbers we're seeing have always been the case but as there was no diagnosis before people didn't know they were autistic. As the diagnosis becomes more well-known by doctors it's unsurprising that more people who fit the criteria are discovered.

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Happy Autism Acceptance Month. Your tone of voice does not come off as rude. Your speech volume is fine. The way you walk is not weird. Your vocal inflections are not cringe. Your hyperfixations are not creepy. Your opinion matters. Your voice matters. The way you experience life is as valid as every non-autistic person you know. Be unashamed of your disability, be unashamed of your autism.

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Autism Acceptance Month Fact #11

Teens on the spectrum are six times more likely than their peers to attempt suicide and twice as likely to succeed.

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Interoception is the least known and least understood sensory system.

Interoception sense controls automatic motor movements and is the awareness and ability to detect and attend to the inner body sensations.

Automatic motor movements is our unconscious movements such as blinking, breathing, flinching, etc.

Inner body sensations are hunger, thirst, tiredness, pain, bladder, bowel, body temperature, illness, arousal, recogniseing emotions, and more.

The insula is located deep in the cerebral cortex and is in charge of recieving and decoding these sensations.

So basically it's how we feel and how we understand ourselves.

Oftentimes autistic individuals have struggles with interoception in that we are either hyper aware, hypo aware, or a mixture of both.

Other things such as hyperfixation, meltdown, shutdown, or burnout can affect a person's interoception.

An oversensitive aware person would feel these sensations more quickly and strongly than others.

Being oversensitive aware can cause problems for a person as the body is interpreting the signals for these things and the person may not be able to focus on other needs or meet these needs.

An oversensitive aware person may be told they are overreacting until it is a more serious issue. This could lead to a meltdown or shutdown.

An undersensitive aware person would not as quickly feel these sensations as others.

Being undersensitive aware can cause problems for a person as the body is not interpreting the signals for these things meaning it's not uncommon for someone to go hours without a drink, food, or using the toilet. This could cause the person to recognise suddenly and urgently a need.

An undersensitive aware person may be told they are overreacting and shamed for not doing these things sooner.

It’s simple! If a neurotypical person is hungry, they eat. When feeling full, they stop eating. When thirsty, they get a drink. Tired, go to sleep. Cold, put on a coat or use a blanket. Hot, remove layers or use a fan. Need to use the toilet, they go.

But for oversensitive aware Autistic individuals they may recognise these cues and have more intense feelings. They may feel hunger as painful, have a low tolerance for pain, feel tired or needing to use the toilet more frequently then others without a medical reason.

But for undersensitive aware autistic individuals may not recognise these cues. They may need to be reminded to eat, to use the bathroom, have a high pain tolerance, or when to get some rest.

So if your autistic individual if becoming dysregulated consider internal issues as a cause of dysregulation.

Ask how long has it been since they ate, had a drink, slept, used the toilet, are they dressed appropriately for the weather, etc.

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sometimes i feel like people forget autism is a disability. and that’s not a bad thing! i’m all for disability acceptance, im proud of my disabilities. but i feel like we forget autism can hurt.

it hurts that i have to put more time and energy into socializing than others.

it hurts when i need to move so bad, usually cause im overwhelmed by either my surroundings or emotions, that i thrash and hurt myself.

it hurts that i cant be in places that are too loud or too bright, which on bad days can be as simple as a small, quiet noise or dim lights.

it hurts that i struggle to tell when im hungry, thirsty, tired, etc. so i can’t properly take care of myself. it doesn’t help my insomnia and i get very nauseas and get UTIs.

i 100% believe in autism acceptance. i don’t want a cure. but i also want us the acknowledge that it can hurt. it doesn’t mean my entire life will hurt, but some parts will. and i want a community where we can see both sides, see the hurt, and celebrate it anyway.

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Life in an Autism World

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autistic culture is needing explicit directions for even the simplest of tasks and without the directions having zero idea how to get it done because What If I Do It Wrong(tm)

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Autistic trauma: School Edition

Hiding in the bathroom

Feel like social outcast

Constant self monitoring

Know you are not liked but not sure why

Bullied

Hyper vigilant

Lonely

Crying at home

Last pick for games

No real friends

Not invited to parties

Littlepuddins.ie

[canadda-uk]

Why I Prefer To Text Instead Of Talking

I don't have to think about body language

It allows for information processing time

If I'm confused by language, I can fact check

If I'm feeling overwhelmed, I don't have to reply

I feel less judged for how I communicate

I can organise my thoughts more easily

I feel more in control of what I am trying to say

Littlepuddins.ie

[canadda-uk]

Every month is autism month for me!

[ID: A comic titled "April is Autism Acceptance Month!"

The narrator, a light skinned person with brown hair, says "You might see some places "lighting it up blue" or sharing puzzle piece imagery this month, but a lot of autistic people prefer to avoid that due to its association with Autism Speaks." Within the speech bubble is a blue puzzle piece with a red cross next to it. The narrator continues, "Autism Speaks sees autism as a disease that needs to be cured and eradicated, which it isn't. So to avoid that, we generally prefer RED instead!" The words "red instead" are shown on the narrator's shirt.

The narrator continues, "or the golden infinity symbol: (it's gold because au is the symbol for gold in the periodic table." There are illustrations of a gold infinity symbol and the periodic table symbol for gold, made to say "autism", next to the text.

Text continues "Not every autistic person celebrates autism acceptance month which is fine! It's optional :)

At the bottom, the narrator wears a red shirt with the gold infinity symbol on it and says "whether you celebrate or not, I hope you have a lovely month." End ID]

Thank you @teatual for the description!