Why are new things potentially tricky for autistic people? A thread (the first I've done for years and years) #neurodiversity #autistic - ThreadSky

petewharmby.com • 93 days ago

Why are new things potentially tricky for autistic people?

A thread (the first I've done for years and years)

#neurodiversity #autistic

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autisticbutterfly.bsky.social•93 days ago

Missed your threads Pete!
Good to see you over here too! 🫶

petewharmby.com•93 days ago

1. Safety in predictability - we are often so stressed out that we prefer to do things that we know already, to minimise new sources of stress and discomfort. Keeping things familiar feels safe and secure.

petewharmby.com•93 days ago

2. Sensory overwhelm. This is always a possibility, so sticking with things we know means we can manage our sensory experience more carefully. Who knows how overwhelming x or y new thing might be?

petewharmby.com•93 days ago

3. Social scripts. We can rely heavily on these, as they help us with the translation from our natural autistic communication style to the neurotypical style. If we haven't developed a 'script' for a new situation, it's very stressful.

petewharmby.com•93 days ago

4. Alexithymia. Not knowing how we feel or why we feel a certain way can make new experiences more scary. Because our emotional reaction might be very delayed, there's a danger of finding ourselves in situations we can't handle before we realise we can't handle it.

petewharmby.com•93 days ago

5. New criticisms. To be autistic is to be criticised. We get criticised for everything that we do or experience differently, and entering a new situation opens us up to tons of unexpected criticism that can be overwhelming.

petewharmby.com•93 days ago

6. Time away from favourite things. We autistic folk tend to prefer to be in a monotropic focus on a thing we love. Doing something new takes us away from this, and as it might be horrible (see above) this can often feel too risky to waste our time on.

emmargh.bsky.social•93 days ago

I’ve started creating physical scripts to help. When I’m unprepared and don’t have my script, it’s still really hard but I’ve found writing these scripts help remove a little of the anxiety!

normimeininki.bsky.social•93 days ago

📌

radicaljase.bsky.social•93 days ago

Because if I don't know I'm good at it I might embarrass myself in front of others and have to endure the pain of humiliation. (they don't have to make fun of me for me to feel embarrassed)

corychaulk.bsky.social•93 days ago

As a dad of two small children who have #autism, in wondering if you have any advice on how to deal with impulsive outbursts and violent behavior?

petewharmby.com•93 days ago

You need to identify what's leading to this. It sounds like meltdowns, which are caused by overwhelming stress

corychaulk.bsky.social•93 days ago

Some meltdowns, but most of it is impulsive. He'll see a kid sitting on the floor and for no good reason, hell step on the kid's hand. Hell be walking in the hallway and, again, for no good reason, hell bump into someone, on purpose, and almost knock them over. He's even done that to his teachers.

emthinks.bsky.social•93 days ago

The bumping into people could be sensory seeking. A lot of autistic people seek proprioceptive input (pressure) and bumping into people would provide this. You could try providing that input on other ways, like big hugs, rolling in a duvet. Understanding their sensory profile can really help.

corychaulk.bsky.social•93 days ago

I definitely understand that. I get the bumping night they kicking, hitting, pushing people into a wall and hitting them in the face, I have zero tolerance for. He's never seen that happen at home and he shouldn't be doing it anywhere, much less at school.

tseikkis.bsky.social•93 days ago

What I've been doing (on professional advise and councelling) is mapping the situations, finding out what calms the child as one method might calm one down and do the opposite to another. It's just so individual, diversion worked for one but another would pay no attention to anything like that.

corychaulk.bsky.social•93 days ago

Most days, but not always, my boy seems to calm down a bit when the teacher and student assistant takes him for a walk inside the school after an outburst.

tseikkis.bsky.social•93 days ago

The outbursts aren't necassarily random, sometimes there's something the kid reacts to it strongly. Can be obvious, can be something pretty weird. I'm on the spectrum myself so I seem to have an easy time observing such things intently but you can never tell.

corychaulk.bsky.social•93 days ago

It's more the impulsive acts of aggression and bring mouthy for no good reason that's the most concerning.

tseikkis.bsky.social•93 days ago

But has to be said I'm no professional, I've only been around four autistic little children and advised many young adults in practical things. Professionals, especially those with lots of experience with autists, are the best people to discuss these things with.

corychaulk.bsky.social•93 days ago

My boy has a developmental physician and she can't even figure out out.

tseikkis.bsky.social•93 days ago

They have the best tips and can notice things we miss. Altho at least here people have been having issues with actually finding professionals who really have a lot of spectrum experience, that doesn't all come from a book either, a decade of working with them seems to be an asset 🙂

riversevern.bsky.social•93 days ago

📌

leeuw8.bsky.social•93 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/leeuw8.bsky.social/post/3lbmaexs4qs2v

leeuw8.bsky.social•93 days ago

So I think another reason why new things seem to be difficult for autistic people, is because they have to be much more resilient and adapt to (unseen) new situations than NTs. When you endure that so many times, situations that are new, EVEN in the perception of NT's, can be one step too far.

lbsketchbook.bsky.social•93 days ago

Heartily agree with all of these!

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