A recent
Meltdowns are not the only way an autistic person may express feeling overwhelmed. They may also refuse to interact, withdrawing from situations they find challenging or avoiding them altogether.
Also, because autistic children have difficulty recognising their own anxious thoughts and feelings, they can't always tell you that they're feeling anxious. Instead, you might notice an increase in challenging behaviour. For example, your anxious child might: have more trouble sleeping.
Difficult or unreachable expectations from family, school, work, or society in general. Stress from living in a world not set up to accommodate autistic people, for example managing the stress of having to be in noisy environments.
If an intervention doesn't occur or doesn't solve the problem, a meltdown is almost inevitable. While some people with autism merely yell or stamp, many really do become overwhelmed by their own emotions. 3 Bolting, hitting, self-abuse, crying, and screaming are all possibilities.
Summary: Autistic Burnout Symptoms
Autistic burnout can look like many things, but most commonly, it shows itself as extreme exhaustion, increased sensory sensitives, loss of executive functioning skills, decreased ability to manage emotions, difficulty adapting to change, and depression.
Meltdowns are similar to the fight response. When an autistic person is having a meltdown they often have increased levels of anxiety and distress which are often interpreted as frustration, a 'tantrum' or an aggressive panic attack.
People with autism spectrum disorder are sometimes said to lack empathy (the ability to feel along with others) and/or sympathy (the ability to feel for others). While this stereotype is often used to describe all people with autism, these challenges are not experienced by everyone on the spectrum.
However, an autistic person may start their day with a much higher level of stress and anxiety. This means that they may reach crisis point more quickly than others. Anxiety is very common in autistic people.
Sensory Issues
Many people with autism experience sensory processing disorder. This is more commonly known as sensory overload. Noise, crowds, bright lights, strong tastes, smells, and being touched can feel unbearable to someone with HFA. This makes going to restaurants, movies, and shopping malls difficult.
Although your son's reaction sounds more severe than most, many people with autism struggle with a range of fears, phobias and worries. These can range from a debilitating fear of, say, spiders or the dark to chronic anxiety about making mistakes or being late.
Sensory situations that may provoke anxiety can include: Crowds - school assemblies, concerts, field trips, grocery store, etc. Space - too large, too crowded, too bright, too loud, too smelly, etc. Sounds/noise.
Common signs of autism in adults include: finding it hard to understand what others are thinking or feeling. getting very anxious about social situations. finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on your own.
Many autistic people experience hypersensitivity to bright lights or certain light wavelengths (e.g., LED or fluorescent lights). Certain sounds, smells, textures and tastes can also be overwhelming. This can result in sensory avoidance – trying to get away from stimuli that most people can easily tune out.
Some autistic people can experience difficulties making themselves understood, understanding what's being said to them, and understanding facial expressions and body language. This can cause considerable frustration and anxiety which may result in anger or distressed behaviour.
Yelling at children with autism can cause depression and negatively impact the emotional wellbeing of the child.
Autism crying and tantrums might happen frequently if there is too high of a demand or too little reinforcement. I say this a lot because I see a lot of crying and other problem behaviors where this is the problem.
Just as many autistic people are hypersensitive to senses such as sight and sound, they may also be hypersensitive to emotions, so may be much more significantly affected by emotional triggers than others. Their other areas of hypersensitivity can also contribute to a strong emotional reaction.
For some autistic individuals, deep pressure can be calming. It can help the person balance their proprioceptive sense – this is the sense that helps a person work out where they are in space. It can be applied in two ways: Through touching someone by hugging or squeezing them.
The purpose of executive function within our brains is to manage tasks such as planning, organization, reasoning, multitasking, problem solving and behavior inhibition. People with autism, (as well as those with ADHD and other disruptive impulse-control and conduct disorders) often struggle with executive dysfunction.
For some autistic adults, emotions do not show, either on their face, in their body or in their tone of voice. The circuitry in the brain responsible for expression of emotion through the body and voice is working differently in autism.
The high-functioning person with autism is not a manipulative, scheming person who is trying to make life difficult. They are seldom, if ever, capable of being manipulative. Usually misbehavior is the result of efforts to survive experiences which may be confusing, disorienting, or frightening.
Shutdowns. Meltdowns do not always present as aggressive and violent actions. "Shutdowns" are when an autistic person becomes extremely quiet, silent and withdrawn. A shutdown is a form of meltdown where a person becomes extremely still rather than outwardly aggressive.
Being completely silent. Not being able to communicate in any way. Withdrawing to a quiet, dark space to get away from the cause of their shutdown. Not being able to move from where they are because they're thinking too much about the cause of their shutdown.