this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
69 points (100.0% liked)
Autism
6855 readers
117 users here now
A community for respectful discussion and memes related to autism acceptance. All neurotypes are welcome.
We have created our own instance! Visit Autism Place the following community for more info.
Community:
Values
- Acceptance
- Openness
- Understanding
- Equality
- Reciprocity
- Mutuality
- Love
Rules
- No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments e.g: racism, sexism, religious hatred, homophobia, gatekeeping, trolling.
- Posts must be related to autism, off-topic discussions happen in the matrix chat.
- Your posts must include a text body. It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to be descriptive.
- Do not request donations.
- Be respectful in discussions.
- Do not post misinformation.
- Mark NSFW content accordingly.
- Do not promote Autism Speaks.
- General Lemmy World rules.
Encouraged
- Open acceptance of all autism levels as a respectable neurotype.
- Funny memes.
- Respectful venting.
- Describe posts of pictures/memes using text in the body for our visually impaired users.
- Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
- Questions regarding autism.
- Questions on confusing situations.
- Seeking and sharing support.
- Engagement in our community's values.
- Expressing a difference of opinion without directly insulting another user.
- Please report questionable posts and let the mods deal with it. Chat Room
- We have a chat room! Want to engage in dialogue? Come join us at the community's Matrix Chat.
.
Helpful Resources
- Are you seeking education, support groups, and more? Take a look at our list of helpful resources.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm autistic. You're describing overstimulation. She is only 8, and it will take time for her to understand what is overstimulating and how to appropriately deal with it. When I am in an overstimulating situation I take breaks, for example taking a walk away from a party.
The thing about being overstimulated is it's not something where you just take deep breaths and calm down and feel better magically. You need to be removed from what's overstimulating you. Imagine being in a room of people who are all screaming at you and you are being pushed to continue to function despite that. That's what being overstimulated is like.
Another important thing to keep in mind is not to push her to act neurotypical. When I'm around a lot of people I reach a point where I "shut down". I am still actively listening but I am quiet and over talking. Make sure you and other family members are not pushing her to be talkative if she wants to be quiet. And assist her being able to take breaks or allow her to acknowledge she is overstimulated and remove herself from the situation. A huge problem, that I have experienced myself and seen other families do with autistic kids, is force them to act "normal" in overstimulating situations. That's a great way to lead to a meltdown. If her siblings are neurotypical they might be doing this because they don't understand.
Sometimes though things are out of your control or it sneaks up on you and you NEED to meltdown to feel better. She needs to figure out a way she can do that without taking it out on someone. Go to her room and cry, run around outside, yell outside, something. All of this is up to her to decide and figure out since it varies per person, but you can help her by reminding her she needs to redirect her meltdown and giving her the space to do so.
And just FYI, it's not high functioning or low functioning anymore. Autism is now described by the level of support someone needs, because someone can appear "high functioning" in certain scenarios but need a lot of support in other ways.